SCULLY: And besides, 2001 is actually the start of the new millennium.MULDER: Nobody likes a math geek, Scully.
X-FILES, "Millennium," 7x05, broadcast 11/28/1999
If you didn't know there was a year zero in astronomy, let me respectfully suggest you're not informed enough to tell others when to begin their centuries.Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
There are two kinds of people, those who think there are two kinds of people, and those who don't.
I am among those who think there are two kinds of people, and that they are people who think that the new century and millennium began on January 1, 2000, and those who think that they began on January 1, 2001.
A definitive discussion of this issue may be found in Stephen Jay Gould's essay, "Dousing Diminutive Dennis's Debate (or DDDD=2000)," which is collected in Dinosaur in a Haystack [Harmony Books, 1995]. Gould, as in his defense of the name Brontosaurus ("Bully for Brontosaurus"), displays towering good sense. (For more on "two kinds of people," see "Psychological Types")
The advocates of "2001" usually say that since a century is 100 years, a millennium is 1000 years, and the calendar began with year 1, therefore all subsequent centuries will begin with a year 1 (e.g. 1901), and all millennia will begin with a year 1 (e.g. 2001). There is no year zero.
Fair enough. However, when calendars were invented that numbered the years, whether the regal years of Egyptian Kings or a continuous count like the Seleucid Era, the number systems used did not contain the number zero. There could be no year zero when there was no zero. Also, years were thought of as ordinals: the first year of a reign was thus year 1. People who still think in these terms I will call "Ordinalists."
The number zero, conceived in India, was introduced into Western mathematics by the mathematician al-Khuwârizmî (c.780-850). The Arabs still call this system "Indian" (Hindî) numbers, while Europeans, etc., call it "Arabic" numerals. The number zero answers the question of cardinal numbers, "How many?" rather than the question of ordinal numbers, "Which one?" Mathematical questions are usually about cardinals rather than ordinals.
When we say that it is the year 1997 of the "Annô Domini" or "Common" Era, does this mean that it is the 1997th year of the Era ("Which one?"), or that 1997 years have elapsed ("How many?") since a Benchmark? Well, it can mean both. If it is the 1997th year of the Era, then the Era began on January 1st, 1 AD. On the other hand, if 1997 years have elapsed since a Benchmark, then the Benchmark was January 1, 0 AD. January 1, 1 AD, would mean that 1 year has elapsed since the Benchmark. That makes the calendar begin with the year 0 AD, not with the year 1 AD. People who think in these terms I will call "Cardinalists."
If the question is about when the calendar really "begins," then of course the truth is that the calendar did not begin either in 1 AD or 0 AD. The Julian Calendar began in 46 BC, the Gregorian Calendar began in 1582 AD, and the "AD" numbering of the years was proposed, although not extensively used until later, by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th Century AD. The only calendar, apart from regal years, that was introduced in its own year 1 may have been the calendar of the French Revolution, which soon enough ceased to be used. When a calendar or a reckoning "begins" thus usually says nothing about whether a calendar might be reckoned from a year 1 or a year 0.
The bald statement by "2001" partisans that "there is no year zero" is now, as a matter of usage, simply false. Calculations by astronomers and chronologists conveniently use zeros for years, months, and days. Perusing the Astronomical Almanac for the year 1997 [U.S. Government Printing Office & Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1996], one finds days like "January 0." This is not surprising. Astronomers and chronologists do their calculations with Arabic numerals, which contain the number zero. This introduces a Cardinalist bias.
The astronomical and calendrical use of 0, however, began in the very first days of modern science. When the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582, it involved a rule for determining when certain leap days of the Julian Calendar should be skipped. The rule was that 3 Julian leap years (i.e. the years of the AD era evenly divisible by 4) every 400 years should be common years in the Gregorian calendar, and those years would be years evenly divisible by 100 but not evenly divisible by 400. Years evenly divisible by 100 are conveniently called "century years." 2000, not 2001, is thus a "century year." Now, advocates of 2001, the Ordinalists, can say that "century years" end a century rather than begin a century. That will work, but then we have to ask how they are going to apply the Gregorian calendar to the year 1 BC. "1" is not evenly divisible by 100, but it is the end of the first century BC and is the year immediately before 1 AD. For mathematical convenience in the usage of the Gregorian calendar, 1 BC must be identified as 0 AD. Then the division works: 0 is evenly divisible by 100 and so is a century year (and evenly divisible by 400 and so a leap year, like 2000 itself). But then we do indeed have a year 0 AD, which the Ordinalists do not want to admit. And 0 AD is, oddly, the actual first year of the AD era, since by (questionable) tradition Jesus was born on December 25th, 8 days before January 1, 1 AD. It would sound peculiar indeed to say that Jesus was born in the year 1 "Before Christ." So 0 AD "begins" the AD Era.
Even though traditional usage for years was ordinal, while modern mathematical and scientific use tends to be cardinal, there is one common numbering usage that is cardinal: the numbering of personal age. When someone is born in the United States, they may be starting their 1st year, but they are not already "1 year old." That comes a year later. Age is thus seen as elapsed time, starting from 0. That a different usage is possible should be obvious. Indeed, the traditional Chinese reckoning of age is ordinal, so that "1 year old" means the 1st year of life. This can be very confusing in places where both Chinese and Western reckoning may be used along side each other, as in Hawaii.
The real choice between 2001 and 2000 is an aesthetic preference: 2001 is consistent with tradition and thus the conservative, traditionalist choice. 2000 is the natural result of the introduction of the number zero, which made the mathematical power of science possible, and thus the modernistic, progressive choice. There is no particular reason why one should be seen as really superior to the other, if we are to honor both tradition and innovation in human affairs. It would be appropriate to celebrate both to indicate that we both look ahead (2000) and look back (2001) in our worldview.
On the other hand, the worst thing about the Ordinalists is their customary dogmatism and arrogance: they just know that there was no year zero, which means that people who begin the century with a zero are vulgar, ignorant, and can't add the number 100. "Vulgar" is a significant component of their judgment, since their pronouncements are often delivered with a sneer and a lofty, superior air. The cognitive psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker says that some things are "gotcha! material for pedants and know-it-alls (the kind of people who insist that the millennium begins January 1, 2001)" [Words and Rules, Basic Books, 1999, p.54]. Indeed, Ordinalists use the issue to prove how superior they are compared to the gaucherie of everyone else. For this they should, at least about this turn of the century, be savagely ridiculed. They seem to be among the mathematical illiterates who have never heard of actually using the number zero. Or perhaps they are racists who don't want to use some newfangled thing that comes from India or the Arabs. Such charges would at least serve to drive them out of their arrogance, if not silence them completely.
Sadly, the great libertarian economist Walter Williams, who always displays towering good sense much more than Stephen Jay Gould on economic and political issues, nevertheless has revealed himself to be an Ordinalist (cf. "Feelings are more important than facts," Conservative Chronicle, November 3, 1999, p.31). Although he can cite the U.S. Naval Observatory in his defense, Williams nevertheless betrays his unfamiliarity with the chronological use of zero on a issue unrelated to the century and the millennium: He says that "the new millennium starts at 12:01 a.m. 2001." Saying that the day starts at "12:01" is natural for an Ordinalist, and perhaps also for someone just using a 12 hour clock. Anyone using a 24 hour clock, especially a digital clock, knows, however, that the day starts at 00:00, "zero hundred hours" -- at 00:01 a minute has already passed. This betrays for us the characteristic Ordinalist lack of attention, or familiarity, with the modern use of zero.
Unfortunately for the Ordinalists, everyone celebrates the New Year at the stroke of Midnight, not at 12:01, and, much worse, the meaning of 00:00 hours January 1, 2000 was hightened by anxieties and fears about the damage that could be done by the Y2K computer bug. It was thought that various essential public services could stop because older computers might lock up when their internal clocks showed the year as 00 and this was interpreted as 1900 rather than 2000. A made-for-television disaster movie anticipated riots and anarchy, and doomsday theorists were ready to take to the hills with enough supplies to surivive the End of Civilization. It was especially of concern that the Russians might lose control of their nuclear missles. Few expected the Russians to upgrade their computers in time to be free of any possible Y2K bugs. As it happened, little or nothing went wrong at Midnight of January 1, 2000, either where the day began, in the western Pacific, in Russia, or anywhere else. But there was not going to be anything like same kind of anxiety about 2001.
When 2000 was upon us, there was a sense of newness and strangeness every time I had to write "2000" or say the date. It had been 700 years (since 1299) since the year of the AD Era did not have a "teen" in it, and, of course, a thousand years since there were three zeroes. Now that we are in 2001, this strangeness, of course, continues. The Ordinalists had their parties for January 1, 2001, but they faced the disappointment that few considered it as big a deal. Only about a quarter as many people turned out in Times Square as for 2000. The British have now closed, not opened, the "Millennium Dome"; and Pope John Paul II has sealed the Holy Year door of St. Peter's Basilica. Nevertheless, they stuck to it. On the ABC evening news Peter Jennings calmly announced the "beginning of the century," as though there were no question about this; and even the less confident news personalities admitted that the "more mathematically precise" reckoned the century to have just begun. I don't think I ever saw the Cardinalist case actually presented, or even acknowledged, in the media. But this is typical of the "objective" news reporting of our day. By 2001, the presence of this page on the internet for four years didn't seem to have made much difference.
The traditional English names of the Full Moons that occur during each year were coordinated to the seasons. The seasons are defined by the equinoxes and solstices. Each season can also be evenly divided into three zodiacal periods according to the longitude of the sun. A Full Moon usually occurs during each zodiacal period and is given a name specific to that period, starting with the "Moon after Yule" for the Full Moon that occurs while the Sun is in Capricorn. This may occur in the December of the previous calendar year, so it should be kept in mind that the "year" defined by the seasons is slightly offset from the calendar year.
While the division of the year is similar to the calendar of the French Revolution, where the year begins with the Autumnal Equinox, the French months were conventionally set to a length of 30 days each.
| Full Moon | Zodiacal Period | Starting Date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yule, Winter Solstice | 89d | ||
| 1. Moon after Yule |  Capricorn | December 22 | 29d |
| 2. Wolf Moon |  Aquarius | January 20 | 30d |
| 13. Blue Moon | The third Full Moon of any Season with four | ||
| 3. Lenten Moon |  Pisces | February 19 | 30d |
| First Day of Spring, Vernal Equinox | 92d | ||
| 4. Egg Moon (Paschal Moon) |  Aries | March 21 | 30d |
| 5. Milk Moon |  Taurus | April 20 | 31d |
| 13. Blue Moon | The third Full Moon of any Season with four | ||
| 6. Flower Moon |  Gemini | May 21 | 31d |
| The Long Day, Summer Solstice | 94d | ||
| 7. Hay Moon |  Cancer | June 21 | 32d |
| 8. Grain Moon |  Leo | July 23 | 31d |
| 13. Blue Moon | The third Full Moon of any Season with four | ||
| 9. Fruit Moon |  Virgo | August 23 | 31d |
| Summer's End, Autumnal Equinox | 90d | ||
| 10. Harvest Moon |  Libra | September 23 | 30d |
| 11. Hunter's Moon |  Scorpio | October 23 | 30d |
| 13. Blue Moon | The third Full Moon of any Season with four | ||
| 12. Moon before Yule |  Sagittarius | November 22 | 30d |
This strict positioning of phases of the Moon in relation to the actual longitude of the Sun is also characteristic of the Chinese Calendar, though it positions New Moons, which mark the beginning of the Chinese year and months, rather than Full Moons. The first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox was also the basis of the Babylonian calendar; but the Jewish calendar, although similarly starting each month with the New Moon, was structured to position the month of Niisân so that its Full Moon would be the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox. This set the date of Passover and was inherited by Christianity in the determination of Easter. If the "Egg Moon" is allowed to occur on the Vernal Equinox itself (rather than, for instance, only after), then it is equivalent to the Paschal Moon defined for Easter. Easter calculation, however, always defines the Vernal Equinox as March 21, so there may be some years, when the Equinox is on March 20, that the Paschal Moon differs from an astronomical calculation. Although the "Egg Moon" may be pre-Christian, it does suggest Easter eggs, and the prior Full Moon, the "Lenten Moon," definitely shows Christian influence. A popup window with this table, for reference, can be created with this link.
Every two or three years thirteen Full Moons will occur from one Winter Solstice to another, and two of these will necessarily occur in the same zodiacal period. Wherever four Full Moons occur in the same season, the third is called a "Blue Moon." Seven such moons will occur in a nineteen year period -- the "Metonic" cycle of the Babylonian, Jewish, and Chinese calendars.
The detailed workings of this system had become very obscure knowledge until recently. A "Blue Moon" is now commonly said to be a second Full Moon in a calendar month, though this means that in some years, as in 1999, there are two months, January and March, with Blue Moons, while February contains no Full Moon at all. This leaves only 11 non-Blue Moons in the year to which the 12 standard moon names would need to be assigned. If the moon names are all assigned by calendar month, then presumably the absence of a Full Moon in February would mean that there is no "Wolf Moon" -- though that loss of such an omnious name might be seen as auspicious. Assigning the "Egg Moon" always to April, on the other hand, severs its relationship to the Paschal Moon. In 1999 the Paschal Moon is on March 31 (with Easter on April 4), but the April Full Moon falls on April 30, a month later. In 1999 the Paschal Moon itself would be, by the calendrical month rule, a Blue Moon, and the Lenten Moon would coincide with, indeed, the astronomical Lenten Moon on March 2.
The recent meaning of "Blue Moon" occurred because the old moon names have mostly fallen out of use, and even been forgotten. Although I have found close to accurate definitions of the "Harvest Moon" and "Hunter's Moon" in 
a 1962 World Book Encyclopedia and in the 1997 Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia (using almost the same language), and I had long heard that such traditional names existed for all the Full Moons of the year, I never saw a list of all of them until an article on "Blue Moons" in the March 1999 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine ("Once in a Blue Moon," by Philip Hiscock). That article contained an inset by Donald W. Olson and Roger W. Sinnott, "Blue-Moon Mystery Solved?", where they reproduced a page from the 1937 Maine Farmer's Almanac (see at right), that identified the Full Moon occuring on August 21, 1937 as a "Blue Moon" and provided a list of all the moon names. This was mysterious to them because the Full Moon on August 21, 1937 was not a second Full Moon in the month, and the Almanac really didn't explain why this particular Full Moon was a Blue Moon. The list of moon names, however, clearly established their astronomical character, and the only explanation for August 21 is the astronomical one. Both Sky & Telescope pieces reveal, however, how obscure the matter has become and how difficult it has been to find older references. The encyclopedia articles, also, don't seem to get it quite right. The World Book said that the nearest Full Moon to the equinox was the "Harvest Moon," while Encarta said that it was the one right before the equinox. The interpretation of the Almanac, however, requires that it be in the Autumn and after (or perhaps on) "Summer's End," i.e. the equinox.
A follow up Sky & Telescope article, "What's a Blue Moon?" by Donald W. Olson, Richard Tresch Fienberg, and Roger W. Sinnott, in the May 1999 issue, seems to have cleared up the problems. After the questions raised by the original article, an examination of more than a century of copies of the Maine Farmers' Almanac revealed the rule they were using for Blue Moons. Rather than using the actual position of the sun, the mean position of the sun was used, March 21 was always used for the Vernal Equinox, and the principle that the third Full Moon out of four in a season was discerned. Thus, the Lenten Moon would always occur in Lent and the Egg Moon would always be the Paschal Moon. Using the mean longitude of the sun would make the seasons of equal length. The error that the second Full Moon in a calendar month was a Blue Moon was traced to a specific issue of Sky & Telescope magazine in March 1946. What does not seem to have been revealed is the source used by the Maine Farmers' Almanac for its method and information.
Reading the original article, my impression was that the rule for Blue Moons was probably the second Full Moon in a zodiacal period. This was unsatisfactory, since it would mean that the Full Moon in Lent might be a Blue Moon rather than the Lenten Moon. It is therefore satisfying to discover that the actual rule preserves the Lenten Moon for Lent. However, the new article lists me as one of the people who proposed that the Blue Moon was the second Full Moon under a "given astrological sign." I think this is a bit of a misrepresentation, since the longitude of the sun defining the zodiacal period does not necessarily have anything to do with astrology. The use of the mean position of the sun also means that different methods, and different results, could be obtained for assigning the Full Moon names. I have discussed a purely astronomical determination. It will be interesting to see when this will diverge from the results of the mean longitude of the sun.
| 1999 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | Zodiacal | by Month |
| 2 January 2h 49m | Moon after Yule | Moon after Yule |
| 31 January 16h 6m | Wolf Moon | Blue Moon |
| 2 March 6h 58m | Lenten Moon | Lenten Moon |
| 31 March 22h 49m | Egg/Paschal Moon | Blue Moon |
| 30 April 14h 55m | Milk Moon | Egg Moon |
| 30 May 6h 40m | Flower Moon | Milk Moon |
| 28 June 21h 37m | Hay Moon | Flower Moon |
| 28 July 11h 25m | Grain Moon | Hay Moon |
| 26 August 23h 48m | Fruit Moon | Grain Moon |
| 25 September 10h 51m | Harvest Moon | Fruit Moon |
| 24 October 21h 2m | Hunter's Moon | Harvest Moon |
| 23 November 7h 4m | Moon before Yule | Hunter's Moon |
| 22 December 17h 31m | Moon after Yule | Moon before Yule |
| 2000 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | Zodiacal | by Month |
| 21 January 4h 40m | Wolf Moon | Moon after Yule |
| 19 February 16h 27m | Blue Moon | Wolf Moon |
| 20 March 4h 44m | Lenten Moon | Lenten Moon |
| 18 April 17h 41m | Egg/Paschal Moon | Egg Moon |
| 18 May 7h 34m | Milk Moon | Milk Moon |
| 16 June 22h 27m | Flower Moon | Flower Moon |
| 16 July 13h 55m | Hay Moon | Hay Moon |
| 15 August 05h 13m | Grain Moon | Grain Moon |
| 13 September 19h 37m | Fruit Moon | Fruit Moon |
| 13 October 8h 53m | Harvest Moon | Harvest Moon |
| 11 November 21h 15m | Hunter's Moon | Hunter's Moon |
| 11 December 9h 3m | Moon before Yule | Moon before Yule |
| 2001 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | Zodiacal | by Month |
| 9 January 20h 24m | Moon after Yule | Moon after Yule |
| 8 February 07h 12m | Wolf Moon | Wolf Moon |
| 9 March 17h 23m | Lenten Moon | Lenten Moon |
| 8 April 03h 22m | Egg/Paschal Moon | Egg Moon |
| 7 May 13h 52m | Milk Moon | Milk Moon |
| 6 June 01h 39m | Flower Moon | Flower Moon |
| 5 July 15h 4m | Hay Moon | Hay Moon |
| 4 August 05h 56m | Grain Moon | Grain Moon |
| 2 September 21h 43m | Fruit Moon | Fruit Moon |
| 2 October 13h 49m | Harvest Moon | Harvest Moon |
| 1 November 05h 41m | Hunter's Moon | Hunter's Moon |
| 30 November 20h 49m | Moon before Yule | Blue Moon |
| 30 December 10h 40m | Moon after Yule | Moon before Yule |
| 2002 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | Zodiacal | by Month |
| 28 January 22h 50m | Wolf Moon | Moon after Yule |
| 27 February 9h 17m | Lenten Moon | Wolf Moon |
| 28 March 18h 25m | Egg/Paschal Moon | Lenten Moon |
| 27 April 03h 00m | Milk Moon | Egg Moon |
| 26 May 11h 51m | Flower Moon | Milk Moon |
| 24 June 21h 42m | Hay Moon | Flower Moon |
| 24 July 09h 7m | Grain Moon | Hay Moon |
| 22 August 22h 29m | Blue Moon | Grain Moon |
| 21 September 13h 59m | Fruit Moon | Fruit Moon |
| 21 October 07h 20m | Harvest Moon | Harvest Moon |
| 20 November 01h 34m | Hunter's Moon | Hunter's Moon |
| 19 December 19h 10m | Moon before Yule | Moon before Yule |
This table, like the previous ones, is taken from The Astronomical Almanac, in this case for the year 2002 [published as for 1999 above].
| 2003 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | Zodiacal | by Month |
| 18 January 10h 48m | Moon after Yule | Moon after Yule |
| 16 February 23h 51m | Wolf Moon | Wolf Moon |
| 18 March 10h 35m | Lenten Moon | Lenten Moon |
| 16 April 19h 36m | Egg/Paschal Moon | Egg Moon |
| 16 May 03h 36m | Milk Moon | Milk Moon |
| 14 June 11h 16m | Flower Moon | Flower Moon |
| 13 July 19h 21m | Hay Moon | Hay Moon |
| 12 August 04h 48m | Grain Moon | Grain Moon |
| 10 September 16h 36m | Fruit Moon | Fruit Moon |
| 10 October 07h 27m | Harvest Moon | Harvest Moon |
| 09 November 01h 13m | Hunter's Moon | Hunter's Moon |
| 08 December 20h 37m | Moon before Yule | Moon before Yule |
This table, like the previous ones, is taken from The Astronomical Almanac, in this case for the year 2003 [published as for 1999 above, 2001].
| 2004 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | Zodiacal | by Month |
| 7 January 15h 40m | Moon after Yule | Moon after Yule |
| 6 February 08h 47m | Wolf Moon | Wolf Moon |
| 6 March 23h 14m | Lenten Moon | Lenten Moon |
| 5 April 11h 03m | Egg/Paschal Moon | Egg Moon |
| 4 May 20h 33m | Milk Moon | Milk Moon |
| 3 June 04h 20m | Flower Moon | Flower Moon |
| 2 July 11h 09m | Hay Moon | Hay Moon |
| 31 July 18h 05m | Grain Moon | Blue Moon |
| 30 August 02h 22m | Fruit Moon | Grain Moon |
| 28 September 13h 09m | Harvest Moon | Fruit Moon |
| 28 October 03h 07m | Hunter's Moon | Harvest Moon |
| 26 November 20h 07m | Moon before Yule | Hunter's Moon |
| 26 December 15h 06m | Moon after Yule | Moon before Yule |
Lent begins on February 25th, and the Lenten Moon is on March 6th. Both Gregorian and Julian Easter in 2004 fall on April 11th, after the Egg or Paschal Moon on April 5th.
This table, with universal times for the Full Moons, is taken from The Astronomical Almanac for the year 2004 [Washington, U.S. Government Printing office; London, The Stationery Office, 2002].
| 2005 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | Zodiacal | by Month |
| 25 January 10h 32m | Wolf Moon | Moon after Yule |
| 24 February 04h 54m | Lenten Moon | Wolf Moon |
| 25 March 20h 58m | Egg/Paschal Moon | Lenten Moon |
| 24 April 10h 06m | Milk Moon | Egg Moon |
| 23 May 20h 18m | Flower Moon | Milk Moon |
| 22 June 04h 14m | Hay Moon | Flower Moon |
| 21 July 11h 00m | Grain Moon | Hay Moon |
| 19 August 17h 53m | Blue Moon | Grain Moon |
| 18 September 02h 01m | Fruit Moon | Fruit Moon |
| 17 October 12h 14m | Harvet Moon | Harvest Moon |
| 16 November 00h 57m | Hunter's Moon | Hunter's Moon |
| 15 December 16h 15m | Moon before Yule | Moon before Yule |
The Full Moons on this table, in Universal Time (GMT), like the previous ones, are taken from The Astronomical Almanac, in this case for the year 2005 [U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, and Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 2003].
| 2006 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | Zodiacal | by Month |
| 14 January 9h 48m | Moon after Yule | Moon after Yule |
| 13 February 04h 44m | Wolf Moon | Wolf Moon |
| 14 March 23h 35m | Lenten Moon | Lenten Moon |
| 13 April 16h 40m | Egg/Paschal Moon | Egg Moon |
| 13 May 6h 51m | Milk Moon | Milk Moon |
| 11 June 18h 03m | Flower Moon | Flower Moon |
| 11 July 03h 02m | Hay Moon | Hay Moon |
| 9 August 10h 54m | Grain Moon | Grain Moon |
| 7 September 18h 42m | Fruit Moon | Fruit Moon |
| 7 October 03h 13m | Harvest Moon | Harvest Moon |
| 5 November 12h 58m | Hunter's Moon | Hunter's Moon |
| 5 December 00h 25m | Moon before Yule | Moon before Yule |
The Full Moons on this table, in Universal Time (GMT), like the previous ones, are taken from The Astronomical Almanac, in this case for the year 2006 [U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, and Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 2004].
| 2007 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | Zodiacal | by Month |
| 3 January 13h 57m | Moon after Yule | Moon after Yule |
| 2 February 05h 45m | Wolf Moon | Wolf Moon |
| 3 March 23h 17m | Lenten Moon | Lenten Moon |
| 2 April 17h 15m | Egg/Paschal Moon | Egg Moon |
| 2 May 10h 09m | Milk Moon | Milk Moon |
| 1 June 01h 04m | Flower Moon | Flower Moon |
| 30 June 13h 49m | Hay Moon | Blue Moon |
| 30 July 00h 48m | Grain Moon | Hay Moon |
| 28 August 10h 35m | Fruit Moon | Grain Moon |
| 26 September 19h 45m | Harvest Moon | Fruit Moon |
| 26 October 04h 52m | Hunter's Moon | Harvest Moon |
| 24 November 14h 30m | Moon Before Yule | Hunter's Moon |
| 24 December 01h 16m | Moon after Yule | Moon before Yule |
As they should be, the Lenten Moon is in Lent, which begins February 21st, and the Egg Moon is the Paschal Moon, with (Gregorian) Easter falling on April 8th.
The Full Moons on this table, in Universal Time (GMT), like the previous ones, are taken from The Astronomical Almanac, in this case for the year 2007 [U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, and Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 2005].
| 2008 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | Zodiacal | by Month |
| 22 January 13h 35m | Wolf Moon | Moon after Yule |
| 21 February 03h 30m | Lenten Moon | Wolf Moon |
| 21 March 18h 40m | Egg/Paschal Moon | Lenten Moon |
| 20 April 10h 25m | Milk Moon | Egg Moon |
| 20 May 02h 11m | Blue Moon | Milk Moon |
| 18 June 17h 30m | Flower Moon | Flower Moon |
| 18 July 07h 59m | Hay Moon | Hay Moon |
| 16 August 21h 16m | Grain Moon | Grain Moon |
| 15 September 09h 13m | Fruit Moon | Fruit Moon |
| 14 October 20h 02m | Harvet Moon | Harvest Moon |
| 13 November 06h 17m | Hunter's Moon | Hunter's Moon |
| 12 December 16h 37m | Moon before Yule | Moon before Yule |
The Full Moons on this table, in Universal Time (GMT), like the previous ones, are taken from The Astronomical Almanac, in this case for the year 2008 [U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, and Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 2006].
The Occurrence of the Solar Terms in 1995-2008
The French Revolutionary Era, which was reckoned to begin on 22 September 1792 (roughly the Autumnal Equinox), was based on a year of 12 months of 30 days each, with five or six intercalary days at the end of the year. This was identical in form and position to the Coptic version of the ancient Egyptian Calendar, though with the year starting about ten days later. The months were poetically named for the seasons (in the northern hemisphere), which immediately inspired an English parody. I have added some Chinese characters, with Chinese proununciation (below) and
| Name | translation | Parody | Roman Month | Coptic Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Vendémiaire | vintage | Wheezey | September | Thout |
| 2. Brumaire | mist  | Sneezy | October | Paape |
| 3. Frimaire | frost  | Freezy | November | Hator |
| 4. Nivôse | snow  | Slippy | December | Kiahk |
| 5. Pluviôse | rain  | Drippy | January | Tobe |
| 6. Ventôse | wind  | Nippy | February | Mshir |
| 7. Germinal | seed | Showery | March | Parmhat |
| 8. Floréal | blossom | Flowery | April | Parmute |
| 9. Prairial | meadow | Bowery | May | Pashons |
| 10, Messidor | harvest | Hoppy | June | Paone |
| 11. Thermidor | heat  | Croppy | July | Epep |
| 12. Fructidor | fruits | Poppy | August | Mesore |
The French calendar, like the original Egyptian calendar again, included a ten day week. This was all supposed to be more natural and rational than the Roman/Gregorian calendar. Once Napoleon became reconciled with the Pope and the Catholic Church, however, it was doomed. Today revolutionary calendar dates are only heard because various events of the French Revolution came to be known by their Revolutionary dates, e.g. the arrest of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794). Thus, those who ended the Reign of Terror became known as "Thermidoreans."
More recent attempts to rationalize the Western calendar have turned on the problem that the seven day week does not divide evenly into the 365 (or 366) day year. A day or two is left over. The simplest idea is simply to leave the extra day (days) out of the week. This sort of thing was never likely to be accepted because the seven day week is observed for religious reasons by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Laid down by God, the succession of days is not going to be modified for calendrical convenience. On the other hand, calendar reforms in the early Soviet Union were directed at abolishing the traditional week altogether, precisely because of its religious basis. At one point, a six day week was used, with Sunday pointedly excluded. Eventually all this was abandoned and the traditional calendar and week restored.
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