Help: How times change....

Subject: How times change....
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Oct 00 - 10:43 AM

Can any of you clever folk here at the cafe help with this?

I was once told the story of why the UK tax year begins on April 6th. I understand that the new year until some time in the past began on April 1st. - makes sense to me as this would be around the start of spring. Anyhow, days were added to the year, things changed around so on and so forth until we discover that the original new years day from 16 nought plonk or whenever is actualy April 6th.

Strange thing is it is only the UK inland revenue that now recognise that fact!

Does anyone have the full story?

Cheers

Dave the Timeless Gnome

Subject: RE: Help: How times change....
From: mousethief
Date: 12 Oct 00 - 10:50 AM

I've never heard of April 1st being the new year. For a long time the new year began on March 25th. But I've never heard of April 1st.

Alex
O..O
=o=

Subject: RE: Help: How times change....
From: MartinRyan
Date: 12 Oct 00 - 10:54 AM

The gap is due to the Gregorian reform of the Calendar, if I remember rightly. The same tax year is used in Ireland (surprise, surprise). It is proposed to switch it to the calendar year soon. The problem is, of course, that nobody (not even taxmen and accountants) fancies been snowed under with work at that time of the year! You can't win....

Regards

Subject: RE: Help: How times change....
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Oct 00 - 11:14 AM

March 25th would be a good new year as it is (I think) Spring equinox. I also guess though that while Spring equinox now lies around then, in the dim and distant past when there was much confusion about how many days, weeks, months etc. were in the calender it could have fell on April 1st.

If anyone knows how and when the days were added, deducted, jugled or otherwise cocked-up it could well explain what used to happen when!

Cheers

D the G

Subject: RE: Help: How times change....
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Oct 00 - 11:35 AM

Just found a fascinating series of articles in brittanica.com. It has TONS of info about calenders and calender reform such as -

"To remove the immense discrepancy between calendar date and equinox, it was decided that the year known in modern times as 46 BC should have two intercalations. The first was the customary intercalation of the Roman republican calendar due that year, the insertion of 23 days following February 23. The second intercalation, to bring the calendar in step with the equinoxes, was achieved by inserting two additional months between the end of November and the beginning of December. This insertion amounted to an addition of 67 days, making a year of no less than 445 days and causing the beginning of March, 45 BC in the Roman republican calendar, to fall on what is still called January 1 of the Julian calendar."

Doesn't realy answer my original question but does explain some discrepancies in when the equinoxes were and why new year seems to have moved a whole three months!

Still looking for the definitive answer

The truth is out there....

D the G

Subject: RE: Help: How times change....
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 12 Oct 00 - 01:03 PM

Here is an entry from  Dr. Mac's Cultural Calendar

Feast of the Annunciation.  Since the Church decided sometime in the 4th century to observe the Nativity of Jesus Christ on December 25 (it never taught that he was actually born on that day), and full-term since pregnancy has always been rounded off to nine months, March 25 was the day on which by sacred tradition the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Blessed Virgin to tell her of her election to be what the Greek Church calls the theotokos, the God-bearer.  The New Year began on that date in England until the middle of the 18th century.  In England, it was called Lady Day.  All leases and contracts were dated from Lady Day.  Roman Church historian Dionysius Exiguus ca.500_550), in calculating his history of the Christian Church, took this day as the supposed date of the Annunciation.  March 25 afterward became the first day of the calendar year, until the Gregorian Calendar Reform of 1582 changed the day to January 1.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Help: How times change....
From: mousethief
Date: 12 Oct 00 - 01:09 PM

Perfectly correct, except we capitalize "Theotokos" since there was only one.

Alex
O..O
=o=

Subject: RE: Help: How times change....
From: Kim C
Date: 12 Oct 00 - 01:15 PM

I have always heard that was where April Fool's Day came from.... that people who celebrated the old new year on April 1 were April Fools.

Subject: RE: Help: How times change....
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 12:42 PM

All, I recommend Stephen Jay Gould's book on The Millennium, where he discusses lots of this stuff. I can't recall the entire title, but it has the millenium in it. He points out things like the birthdate of some president or other being in totally different months depending on what year you went to grade school, and suchlike confusions. Plus he's so, well, readable...

And don't some $mas carols say that Christ was born "on the 6th day of January" (Jean Ritchie, etc)?

Subject: RE: Help: How times change....
From: Bert
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 12:50 PM

In Iran they celebrate "Now Rooz" on March 26th.