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Common Year Starting On Thursday

Common year starting on Thursday

This is the calendar for any common year starting on Thursday (dominical letter D). e.g. 2009 (A common year is a year with 365 days -- in other words, not a leap year.) This kind of year has 53 weeks in the ISO 8601 week - day format.

Millennium	Century	Year
2nd Millennium:	19th century:	1801	1807	1818	1829	1835	1846	1857	1863	1874	1885	1891
2nd Millennium:	20th century:	1903	1914	1925	1931	1942	1953	1959	1970	1981	1987	1998
3rd Millennium:	21st century:	2009	2015	2026	2037	2043	2054	2065	2071	2082	2093	2099
3rd Millennium:	22nd century:	2105	2111	2122	2133	2139	2150	2161	2167	2178	2189	2195

Category:Thursday Category:Weeks ko:목요일로 시작하는 평년 th:ปีปกติสุรทินที่วันแรกเป็นวันพฤหัสบดี

Dominical letter

The days of the year are sometimes designated letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G in a cycle of 7 as an aid for finding the day of week of a given calendar date and in calculating Easter. These letters are known as dominical letters. A common year has a dominical letter, which is simply the dominical letter of its first Sunday. For example 2003 has 5 January as its first Sunday so has Dominical letter E. In leap years, the leap day has no dominical letter. This ensures that each date has the same dominical letter every year, but causes the days of the weeks of the dominical letters to change within a leap year. Hence leap years have two dominical letters: the first for January and February and the second for March to December. The second dominical letter is the dominical letter of the first Sunday of October (which is the same as for January in a common year). The year 2004 has Dominical letters DC. Examples include:
- 1996 GF
- 1997 E
- 1998 D
- 1999 C
- 2000 BA
- 2001 G
- 2002 F
- 2003 E
- 2004 DC
- 2005 B
- 2006 A
- 2007 G
- 2008 FE The dominical letter of a year determines the days of week in its calendar:
- A common year starting on Sunday
- B common year starting on Saturday
- C common year starting on Friday
- D common year starting on Thursday
- E common year starting on Wednesday
- F common year starting on Tuesday
- G common year starting on Monday
- AG leap year starting on Sunday
- BA leap year starting on Saturday
- CB leap year starting on Friday
- DC leap year starting on Thursday
- ED leap year starting on Wednesday
- FE leap year starting on Tuesday
- GF leap year starting on Monday

History

A device adopted from the Romans by the old chronologers to aid them in finding the day of the week corresponding to any given date, and indirectly to facilitate the adjustment of the "Proprium de Tempore" to the "Proprium Sanctorum" when constructing the ecclesiastical calendar for any year. The Church, on account of her complicated system of movable and immovable feasts (see Christian calendar), has from an early period taken upon herself as a special charge to regulate the measurement of time. To secure uniformity in the observance of feasts and fasts, she began, even in the patristic age, to supply a computus, or system of reckoning, by which the relation of the solar and lunar years might be accommodated and the celebration of Easter determined. Naturally she adopted the astronomical methods then available, and these methods and the methodology belonging to them, having become traditional, are perpetuated in a measure to this day, even the reform of the calendar, in the prolegomena to the Breviary and Missal. The Romans were accustomed to divide the year into nundinæ, periods of eight days; and in their marble fasti, or calendars, of which numerous specimens remain, they used the first eight letters of the alphabet to mark the days of which each period was composed. When the Oriental seven-day period, or week, was introduced in the time of Cæsar Augustus, the first seven letters of the alphabet were employed in the same way to indicate the days of this new division of time. In fact, fragmentary calendars on marble still survive in which both a cycle of eight letters — A to H — indicating nundinæ, and a cycle of seven letters — A to G — indicating weeks, are used side by side (see "Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum", 2nd ed., I, 220; the same peculiarity occurs in the Philocalian Calendar of A.D. 356, ibid., p. 256). This device was imitated by the Christians, and in their calendars the days of the year from 1 January to 31 December were marked with a continuous recurring cycle of seven letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. A was always set against 1 January, B against 2 January, C against 3 January, and so on. Thus F fell to 6 January, G to 7 January; A again recurred on 8 January, and also, consequently, on 15 January, 22 January, and 29 January. Continuing in this way, 30 January was marked with a B, 31 January with a C, and 1 February with a D. Supposing this to be carried on through all the days of an ordinary year (i. e. not a leap year), it will be found that a D corresponds to 1 March, G to 1 April, B to 1 May, E to 1 June, G to 1 July, C to 1 August, F to 1 September, A to 1 October, D to 1 November, and F to 1 December — a result which Durandus recalled by the following distich: :Alta Domat Dominus, Gratis Beat Equa Gerentes :Contemnit Fictos, Augebit Dona Fideli. Now, as a moment's reflection shows, if 1 January is a Sunday, all the days marked by A will also be Sundays; If 1 January is a Saturday, Sunday will fall on 2 January which is a B, and all the other days marked B will be Sundays; if 1 January is a Monday, then Sunday will not come until 7 January, a G, and all the days marked G will be Sundays. This being explained, the Dominical Letter of any year is defined to be that letter of the cycle A, B, C, D, E, F, G, which corresponds to the day upon which the first Sunday (and every subsequent Sunday) falls. It is plain, however, that when a leap year occurs, a complication is introduced. February has then twenty-nine days. Traditionally, the Anglican and civil calendars added this extra day to the end of the month, while the Catholic ecclesiastical calendar counted 24 February twice. But in either case, 1 March is then one day later in the week than 1 February, or, in other words, for the rest of the year the Sundays come a day earlier than they would in a common year. This is expressed by saying that a leap year has two Dominical Letters, the second being the letter which precedes that with which the year started. For example, 1 January 1907, was a Tuesday; the first Sunday fell on 6 January, or an F. F was, therefore, the Dominical Letter for 1907. The first of January, 1908, was a Wednesday, the first Sunday fell on 5 January, and E was the Dominical Letter, but as 1908 was a leap year, its Sundays after February came a day sooner than in a normal year and were Ds. The year 1908, therefore, had a double Dominical Letter, ED. In 1909, 1 January was a Friday and the Dominical Letter was C. In 1910 and 1911, 1 January fell respectively on Saturday and Sunday and the Dominical Letters are B and A.

Calculation

This, of course, is all very simple, but the advantage of tile device lies, like that of an algebraical expression, in its being a mere symbol adaptable to any year. By constructing a table of letters and days of the year, A always being set against 1 January, we can at once see the relation between the days of the week and the day of any month, if only we know the Dominical Letter. This may always be found by the following rule of De Morgan's, which gives the Dominical Letter for any year, or the second Dominical Letter if it be leap year: #Add 1 to the given year. #Take the quotient found by dividing the given year by 4 (neglecting the remainder). #Take 16 from the centurial figures of the given year if that can be done. #Take the quotient of III divided by 4 (neglecting the remainder). #From the sum of I, II and IV, subtract III. #Find the remainder of V divided by 7: this is the number of the Dominical Letter, supposing A, B, C, D, E, F, G to be equivalent respectively to 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. For example, to find the Dominical Letter of the year 1913: :(Steps 1, 2, & 4) 1914 + 478 + 0 = 2392 :(3) 19 - 16 = 3 :(5) 2392 - 3 = 2389 :(6) 2389 / 7 = 341, remainder 2. Therefore, the Dominical Letter is E.

Practical use for the clergy

But the Dominical Letter had another very practical use in the days before the Ordo divini officii recitandi was printed annually, and when, consequently, a priest had often to determine the Ordo for himself. As can be seen in the article Epact, Easter Sunday may be as early as 22 March or as late as 25 April, and there are consequently thirty-five possible days on which it may fall. It is also evident that each Dominical Letter allows five possible dates for Easter Sunday. Thus, in a year whose Dominical Letter is A (i. e. when 1 January is a Sunday), Easter must be either on 26 March, 2 April, 9 April, 16 April, or 23 April, for these are all the Sundays within the defined limits. But according as Easter falls on one or another of these Sundays we shall get a different calendar, and hence there are five, and only five, possible calendars for years whose Dominical Letter is A. Similarly, there are five possible calendars for years whose Dominical Letter is B, five for C, and so on, thirty-five possible combinations in all. Now, advantage was taken of this principle in the arrangement of the old Pye or directorium which preceded the present "Ordo". The thirty-five possible calendars were all included therein and numbered, respectively, primum A, secundum A, tertium A, etc.; primum B, secundum B, etc. Hence for anyone wishing to use the Pye the first thing to determine was the Dominical Letter of the year, and then by means of the Golden Number or the Epact, and by the aid of a simple table, to find which of the five possible calendars assigned to that Dominical Letter belonged to the year in question. Such a table as that just referred to, but adapted to the reformed calendar and in more convenient shape, will be found at the beginning of every Breviary and Missal under the heading, "Tabula Paschalis nova reformata". The Dominical Letter does not seem to have been familiar to Bede in his "De Temporum Ratione," but in its place he adopts a similar device of seven numbers which he calls concurrentes (De Temp. Rat., cap. liii), of Greek origin. The Concurrents are numbers denoting the days of the week on which 24 March falls in the successive years of the solar cycle, 1 standing for Sunday, 2 (feria secunda) for Monday, 3 for Tuesday, and so on. It is sufficient here to state that the relation between the Concurrents and the Dominical Letter is the following: :Concurrents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 :Concurrent 1 = F (Dominical Letter) :Concurrent 2 = E :Concurrent 3 = D :Concurrent 4 = C :Concurrent 5 = B :Concurrent 6 = A :Concurrent 7 = G

Use for mental calculation

There exist patterns in the dominical letters, which are very useful for mental calculation. Patterns for years: To use these patterns, choose and remember a year to use as a starting point, such as 2000=BA. Note that because of the complicated Gregorian leap-year rules, these patterns break near some century changes. Note the reverse alphabetical order. 1992 3 4 5 96 7 8 9 2000 1 2 3 04 5 6 7 2008 ED C B A GF E D C BA G F E DC B A G FE and (note the reversed order of the years as well as of the letters) 2040 2030 2020 2010 2000 1990 1980 1970 1960 1950 AG F ED C BA G FE D CB A | | | | | | | | | | G FE D CB A GF E DC B AG 2046 2036 2026 2016 2006 1996 1986 1976 1966 1956 Patterns for days of the month: The dominical letters for the first day of each month form the nonsense mnemonic phrase "Add G, beg C, fad F". The following dates, given in month/day form, all have dominical letter C: 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, 12/12, 5/9, 9/5, 7/11, 11/7. This was stolen from the Doomsday algorithm.

References

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External links

- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05109a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia article on Dominical letter] Category:Weeks

2009

2009 by topic 2009 (MMIX) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. It corresponds to 5769 and 5770 in the Hebrew Calendar. It is the Bicentennial of the births of Louis Braille, Charles Darwin, Edward Fitzgerald, William Gladstone, Maxim Gorki, Abraham Lincoln, and Felix Mendelssohn.

Predicted and scheduled events

January-April

- January 1 - Bulgaria is to introduce the euro as its official currency, replacing the Bulgarian lev (BGN).
- January 1 - Deadline by which goods in all member states of the European Union must be sold in metric units (this has already been completed everywhere, except in the UK). Road signs in the UK are unaffected (road signs in all other member states will already be in metric units).
- January 20 - The 44th President of the United States (elected November 4 2008) will be inaugurated.
- January 26 Annular solar eclipse.
- February 1 - Super Bowl XLIII will be in Tampa Bay.
- February 1 - The International COSPAS-SARSAT program is scheduled to stop monitoring for Class B EPIRB maritime emergency signals.
- February 13 a celebration is expected as the Unix time number reaches 1234567890 seconds at 23:31:30 UTC
- March 3 - Square root day, the first one in over five years.
- April - New Shea Stadium scheduled to open
- April - New Yankee Stadium scheduled to open.
- April 4 to April 6 - NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four to be held at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.
- April 11 - Neptune will return to the same degree and minute as when it was discovered.

May-December

- May 25 - Conjunction between Jupiter and Neptune, Jupiter 24' south. First conjunction of triple conjunction Jupiter/Neptune.
- Mid-June - Elections to the European Parliament. In the UK, they will be held on June 11. This is also a possible date for the next UK general election.
- July 13 - Conjunction between Jupiter and Neptune, Jupiter 37' south. Second conjunction of triple conjunction Jupiter/Neptune.
- July 15-July 26 - Summer Universiade in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro
- July 22 - Total solar eclipse (Longest lasting total eclipse of the 21st century)
- Unknown date - NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its final flyby of Mercury before entering orbit around the planet in 2011.
- December 20 - Conjunction between Jupiter and Neptune, Jupiter 34' south. Third conjunction of triple conjunction Jupiter/Neptune.

Unknown dates

- Completion of Freedom Tower.
- A U.S. aircraft carrier named the USS George H. W. Bush will be launched.
- Conan O'Brien is scheduled to replace Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show.
- The United Kingdom plans to continue 5-year process to cease analog television broadcasts region-by-region, with Granada, HTV West, Grampian Television and Scottish Television.
- Rhodri Morgan expects to retire as First Minister of Wales.
- Boeing's 747-8 sees entry into service (EIS).
- Opening of Tseung Kwan O South Line, MTR, Hong Kong.
- Winter Universiade in Harbin, People's Republic of China
- Decision of the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Location TBA.
- Thirteenth Olympic Congress, location TBA.
- Singapore will host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
- Completion of the East L.A. Gold Metro Expansion in Los Angeles, California. Category:Years in the future
- ko:2009년 ja:2009年 simple:2009

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the meantropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettaThe Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน

February

February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. It is the shortest Gregorian month and the only month with the length of 28 or 29 days. The month has 29 days in leap years, when the year number is divisible by four (except for years that are divisible by 100 and not by 400). In other years the month has 28 days. February begins, astronomically speaking, with the sun in the constellation of Capricornus and ends with the sun in the constellation of Aquarius. Astrologically speaking, February begins with the sun in the sign of Aquarius and ends in the sign of Pisces. February was named for the Roman god Februus, the god of purification. January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter a monthless period. This change was made by Numa Pompilius about 700 BC in order to bring the calendar in line with a standard lunar year. Numa's Februarius contained 29 days (30 in a leap year). Augustus is alleged to have removed one day from February and added it to August, (renamed from Sextilis to honor himself), so that Julius Caesar's July would not contain more days. However there is little historical evidence to support this claim. July February was nominally the last month of the Roman calendar, as the year originally began in March. At certain intervals Roman priests inserted an intercalary month, Mercedonius, after February to realign the year with the seasons. Historical names for February include the Anglo-Saxon terms Solmoneth (mud month) and Kale-monath (named for cabbage) as well as Charlemagne's designation Hornung. In old Japanese calendar, the month is called Kisaragi (如月, 絹更月 or 衣更月). It is sometimes also called Mumetsuki (梅見月) or Konometsuki (木目月). In Finnish, the month is called helmikuu, meaning "month of the pearl". "February" is pronounced without the first r, as "Febuary", by many speakers. This is probably dissimilation, or an analogical change influenced by "January".

External links

- [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_160.html The Straight Dope: How come February has only 28 days?] Category:Months ko:2월 ms:Februari ja:2月 simple:February th:กุมภาพันธ์

March

---- March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. March begins (astrologically, non-sidereal) with the sun in the sign of Pisces and ends in the sign of Aries. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of Aquarius and ends in the constellation of Pisces. In ancient Rome, March was called Martius, so named after the Roman god of war and was considered a lucky time to begin a war. March was originally the first month of the Roman calendar because the winter months of January and February were unsuited for warfare, the essence of any Italic state. Julius Caesar's calendar reform in 45 BCE began the year on January 1. The tradition of starting the year in March continued in some countries for a long time. January 1 was only instituted as New Year's Day in France in 1564. Great Britain and her colonies continued to use March 25 until 1752, the same year they finally adopted the Gregorian calendar. In ancient Hellenic civilization, March was called Anthesterion. In old Japanese calendar, the month is called Yayoi (弥生). In Finnish, the month is called maaliskuu, of obscure origin. Historical names for March include the Saxon term Lenctmonat, named for the equinox and eventual lengthening of days and the eventual namesake of Lent. The Saxons also called March Rhed-monat (for their goddess Rhedam); ancient Britons called it hyld-monath (meaning loud or stormy). Britons

Events in March

- The equinox named the vernal or spring equinox in the northern hemisphere and the autumnal equinox in the southern hemisphere occurs on dates varying from 19 March to 21 March (in UTC).

External links

- [http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/AA/en/antwoorden/seizoenen.html Astronomy Answers article on the seasons] Category:Months ko:3월 ms:Mac ja:3月 simple:March th:มีนาคม

Sunday

:This article is about the day of the week. For the Australian news and current affairs television programme see Sunday (TV series). Sunday is considered either the first or the seventh day of the week, between Saturday and Monday, and the second day of the weekend in some cultures. It is considered a holiday in lands of Christian tradition, the day Christians most commonly attend Church (Saturday is the other day that some consider to be the Sabbath). In the Gregorian calendar, no century can start on a Sunday. In the Hebrew calendar, no year can start on a Sunday. Any month beginning on a Sunday will contain a Friday the 13th.

The name Sunday

In English, Sunday gets its name from Sunna, or Sunne the Germanic sun goddess. In ancient Jewish tradition Saturday is the sabbath. Christians in Seventh-day Adventist, 7th day Church of God, and Seventh Day Baptist churches, and many Messianic Jews believe that Saturday remains the Sabbath ([http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews%204:9;&version=47; Hebrews 4:9]). Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "sabbath". Eastern Orthodox churches distinguish between the sabbath (Saturday) and what they call the Lord's day (Sunday). Roman Catholics put so little emphasis on that distinction that many among them follow — at least in colloquial language — the Protestant practice of calling Sunday the sabbath, though this is not a universal Protestant practice. Quakers traditionally refer to Sunday as "First Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name. The first historical reference to "the day called Sun" by any involved with Christianity was by Justin Martyr around 150 A.D. However, the Christians in Smyrna, still observed the seventh day Sabbath later than that as can be found in the letter known as the Martyrdom of Polycarp. Sunday was declared the day of worship by the Council of Nicea circa 325 A.D. Groups that accepted the authority of that Council have kept Sunday ever since.

Position during a week

In many countries, including most of Europe and South America (except Brazil), Sunday is held to be the last day of the week. In others, including the United States and Canada, it is seen as the first day, a traditional view derived from ancient Jews, Egyptians and the Holy Roman Empire. ISO 8601 defines Monday as the first day of the week, making Sunday the seventh.

Common Sunday occurrences

Among Christians (with the exception of seventh-day sabbatarians, such as the denominations listed above) Sunday is considered holy and often a day of rest and church-attendance. In orthodox Christian families and communities some activities are not done, e.g. working, doing something that requires somebody else to work such as buying goods or services (including the use of public transport), driving a car, gardening, washing a car, etc. Exceptions which are allowed are making use of religious services, and, usually, using electricity, and urgent medical matters. In the United States, professional football is usually played on Sunday, although Saturday and Monday (via Monday Night Football) also see some professional games. College football usually occurs on Saturday, and high-school football tends to take place on Friday night or Saturday afternoon. It is not uncommon for church attendance to shift on days when a late morning or early afternoon game is anticipated by a local community. Also in the United States, many federal government buildings are closed on Sunday. Privately owned businesses also tend to close or are open for shorter periods of the day than on other days of the week. Many American and British television networks and stations also broadcast their political interview shows on Sunday mornings. Many American and British daily newspapers publish a larger edition on Sundays, which often includes color comic strips, a magazine, and a coupon section. In Ireland, Gaelic football and hurling matches are predominantly played on Sundays, with the second and fourth Sundays in September always playing host to the All-Ireland hurling and football championship finals, respectively.

Named days

- Easter Sunday, the day in the Bible on which Christ rose from the dead, celebrated across the Christian world and regarded as the most important day in the Christian calendar.
- Low Sunday, first Sunday after Easter, is also known as White Sunday, Quasimodo Sunday, Alb Sunday, Antipascha Sunday, and Divine Mercy Sunday.
- Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter.
- Passion Sunday, formerly denoting the fifth Sunday of Lent, since 1970 the term applies to the following Sunday also known as Palm Sunday.
- Septuagesima Sunday, before 1970, was the third from the last Sunday before Lent.
- Stir-up Sunday, is the last Sunday before Advent.
- Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost.
- Laetare Sunday
- Gaudete Sunday
- Whitsunday

Sunday in popular culture

- In the popular rhyme, "The child born on Sunday is fair and wise and good and gay".

External links

- [http://www.fisheaters.com/lordsday.html Keeping the Lord's Day Holy] traditional Catholic practices for Sundays
- [http://www.cogwriter.com/justin.htm Justin Martyr: Saint, Heretic, or Apostate?] Includes comments by Justin Martyr, including the Greek he used for "the day called Sun" Category:Days of the week ko:일요일 ms:Ahad ja:日曜日 simple:Sunday th:วันอาทิตย์

Monday

Monday is considered either the first or the second day of the week, between Sunday and Tuesday. It gets its name from Mani (Old EnglishMona), the Germanic Moon god. Monday is often held to be the first day of the week. This is the case in most of Europe, Australia, parts of Africa, and South America. In Asia, many languages refer to Monday as the "day of the beginning". For example, Monday is xingqi yi (星期一) in Chinese, meaning day one of the week. The international standard ISO 8601 also defines Monday as the first day of the week. In other areas of the world, Monday is the second day. This is the traditional view in Canada and the United States. The name for the day in Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew and Portuguese is "second day". Quakers also traditionally refer to Monday as "Second Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the English name "Monday". Modern culture usually looks at Monday as the beginning of the workweek, as it is typically Monday when adults go back to work and children back to school after the weekend. This however is with exception; in Middle Eastern countries the beginning of the workweek is usually Saturday (Thursday and Friday are observed as the weekend). In Israel, Sunday is the first day of the workweek. Friday is half a work day and Friday Night and Saturday are the Sabbath. Thus, Mondays are often seen as a misfortune. In 2002 the professional services firm PwC sold off its management consulting division. For a brief period the newly independent firm was to be called "Monday". According to the advertising campaign that supported the launch this name was associated with "crisp, white shirts", and "fresh coffee"; a clean, fresh, ready-to-work image. The proposed name was greeted with derision in the media; fortunately for the employees, computer giant IBM stepped in with a winning offer one week later, and the firm became IBM's own consulting division. Mondays are also attributed to the colloquial "illness" Mondayitis. (Also known as having a case of "The Mondays") A possible reason for Mondayitis is that human circadian rhythms are incompatible with the normal 35 to 40-hour working week.

Monday in popular culture

In the popular rhyme, "Monday's Child is fair of face". Mondays are considered "enemies" of the comic strip cat, Garfield.

Astrology

Monday is associated with the moon (in french Lundi means "moon day"), this links monday to emotions, worries and intuition. It is a day to be treated with care to generate the greatest results.

Named days

- Black Monday
- Blue Monday
- Easter Monday
- First Monday
- Handsel Monday
- Manic Monday
- Miracle Monday
- Plough Monday
- Wet Monday
- Whit Monday

Tuesday

Tuesday is considered either the second or the third day of the week, between Monday and Wednesday. The English and Scandinavian names are derived from the Nordic god Tyr (in Old English, Tiw, Tew or Tiu. In Swedish, Tisdag, Danish: Tirsdag, Finnish: Tiistai). Quakers traditionally refer to Tuesday as "Third Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the English name "Tuesday". Tuesday is the usual day for elections in the United States. Federal elections take place on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November; this date was established by a law of 1845 for presidential elections (specifically for the selection of the Electoral College), and was extended to elections for the House of Representatives in 1875 and for the Senate in 1914. Tuesday was the earliest day of the week which was practical for polling in the early 19th century: citizens might have to travel for a whole day to cast their vote, and would not wish to leave on Sunday which was a day of worship for the great majority of them. Many American states hold their presidential primary elections on "Super Tuesday". In the Greek world, Tuesday (the day of the week of the Fall of Constantinople) is considered an unlucky day. The same is true in the Spanish-speaking world, where a proverb runs En martes, ni te cases ni te embarques (On Tuesday, neither get married nor begin a journey).

Tuesday in popular culture

In the popular rhyme, "Tuesday's child is full of grace".

Astrology

In French, Tuesday is "Mardi", associating it with the planet Mars. This marries Tuesday with ideas of strife, battles to be won and pressing issues and jobs to get sorted. It is not a day to relax. This same meaning can be seen in the Spanish "Martes" and the English "Tuesday" ("Tyr's day.")

Named days

- Shrove Tuesday (also called Mardi Gras - fat Tuesday) precedes the first day of Lent in the Western Christian calendar.
- Black Tuesday, in the United States, refers to October 29, 1929, part of the great Stock Market Crash of 1929. This was the Tuesday after Black Thursday. The crash is said to have marked the start of the Great Depression.
- Super Tuesday is the day many American states hold their presidential primary elections. Category:Days of the week als:Dienstag ko:화요일 ms:Selasa ja:火曜日 simple:Tuesday th:วันอังคาร

Wednesday

:The article refers to the weekday. See also Wednesday (disambiguation)Wednesday (disambiguation) Wednesday is considered either the third or the fourth day of the week, between Tuesday and Thursday. The name comes from the Old EnglishWodnesdæg meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the 7th C. AD. When Sunday is taken as the first of the week, the day in the middle of each week is Wednesday. Arising from this, the German name for Wednesday has been Mittwoch (literally: "mid-week") since the 10th Century, having displaced the former name: Wodanstag. According to the Bible, Wednesday is the day when the Sun and Moon were created. Wednesday is also in the middle of the common 5-day working week from Monday through Friday. However, see also Thursday and ISO 8601. In Spanish, miércoles is used to mean Wednesday, but also as a semi-rude euphemism for never ever. An English language idiom for Wednesday is "hump day", a reference to making it through the middle of the work week as getting "over the hump". It is also unofficially (and with some irony) referred to as "the peak of the week". Quakers traditionally refer to Wednesday as "Fourth Day", eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name "Wednesday". Most eastern languages also use a name with this meaning, for much the same reason. Faithful Orthodox Christians observe a vegetarian / fish-only fast on Wednesdays (and Fridays) in some countries.

Wednesday in popular culture

In the popular rhyme, "Wednesday's Child is full of woe". The film Angel Heart includes a scene where Harry Angel refers to Wednesday as "Anything Can Happen Day," in reference to the original Mickey Mouse Club television program. The term "hump day" was first used by the media on a Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station in 1965. It was thought to have been originated by an employee of Pako Corporation.

Astrological sign

The astrological sign of the planet Mercury represents Wednesday -- Dies Mercurii to the Romans, with similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as the French Mercredi and the Spanish Miércoles. In English, this became "Woden's Day", since the Roman god Mercury was identified with Woden in northern Europe.

Named days

- Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, occurs forty days before Easter not counting Sundays.
- Spy Wednesday is an old name given to the Wednesday immediately preceding Easter, in allusion to the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot. Category:Days of the week als:Mittwoch ko:수요일 ms:Rabu ja:水曜日 th:วันพุธ

Thursday

Thursday, by international standard, is the fourth day of the week, falling between Wednesday and Friday. In countries that adopt a Sunday-first convention, it is commonly considered the fifth day of the week. (see Days of the week for more on the different conventions.) The name Thursday comes from the Old English Þunresdæg, meaning the day of Þunor, commonly known in Modern English as Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Thor replaced the Roman god of thunder, Jupiter, as the namesake of the fourth day of the week after the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Roman Britain. By some conventions (see ISO 8601), the Thursdays of a year determine the week numbering: week 1 is defined as the week that contains the first Thursday of the year, and so on.

Astrology

In French, Thursday is "Jeudi", a surviving connection between the day and the astrological energies of Jupiter. This connection links Thursday to business but also to jollity and humour.

Thursday in religion

In the Hindu religion, Thursday is guruvar or the Guru's day. Quakers traditionally refer to Thursday as "Fifth Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name "Thursday". In the Christian tradition, Holy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter - the day on which the Last Supper occurred. In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is an annual holiday celebrated on a Thursday in November, currently the fourth Thursday.

Thursday in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, all general elections since 1935 have been held on a Thursday, and this has become a tradition, although not a requirement of the law – which only states that an election may be held on any day "except Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, bank holidays in any part of the United Kingdom and any day appointed for public thanksgiving and mourning". An explanation sometimes given for the choice of Thursday as polling day is that it was, in most towns, the traditional market day, although it has also been observed that the choice has practical advantages – with the outcome of the election being known by Friday, the new or continuing administration then has the weekend to organize itself in preparation for the "government shop opening for business" on Monday, the first day of the new week following the election. The Thursday before Easter is also known as Maundy Thursday or Sheer Thursday in the United Kingdom, traditionally a day of cleaning and giving out Maundy money.

Thursday in popular culture

In the popular rhyme, "Thursday's Child has far to go". In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the character Arthur Dent says "This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays". A few minutes later the planet Earth is destroyed. Thor, for whom the day was named, also appears later in the Hitchhiker's series and in other Adams books.

Named days

Black Thursday refers to October 24, 1929 when stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange fell sharply, with record volume of nearly 13 million shares. Five days later, the market crashed on volume of over 16 million shares - a level not to be surpassed for 39 years. In popular imagery, the crash has come to mark the beginning of the Great Depression. Category:Days of the week als:Donnerstag ko:목요일 ms:Khamis ja:木曜日 th:วันพฤหัสบดี

Saturday

::For Ian McEwan's 2005 novel, see Saturday (novel). Saturday is the sixth (seventh in some countries) day of the week, between Friday and Sunday. It is the only day of the week to retain its Roman origin in English, named after the Roman god of time Saturn. Many of the other days of the week adopted names of Saxon gods in Northern Europe. By tradition derived from ancient Jews, Saturday is the last day of the week. That convention remains universally standard in the United States, but in modern Europe many people now consider Saturday the sixth (penultimate) day of the week, and Sunday the last. The modern European convention has been formalized by ISO 8601. On the other hand, in many Islamic countries, Saturdays are the first day of the week, with Fridays as holidays. In many countries where Sundays are holidays, Saturday is part of the weekend, and is traditionally a day of relaxation. Many parties are held on Saturdays, because it precedes Sunday, another day of rest. It is common for clubs, bars and restaurants to open later on Saturday night than on other nights. Saturday is the usual day for elections in Australia and the only day in New Zealand on which elections can be held. In ancient Jewish tradition Saturday is the sabbath. Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "sabbath". Eastern Orthodox churches distinguish between the sabbath (Saturday) and the Lord's day (Sunday). Roman Catholics put so little emphasis on that distinction that many among them follow – at least in colloquial language – the Protestant practice of calling Sunday the sabbath. Quakers traditionally refer to Saturday as "Seventh Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name. In Scandinavian countries, Saturday is called Lördag or Löverdag etc., the name being derived from the old word laugr, meaning bath, thus Lördag equates to bath-day. The modern Maori name for it, Rahoroi, means "washing-day".

Saturday in popular culture

- In the popular rhyme, "Saturday's Child works hard for a living".
- Saturday was also the preferred day to hunt vampires as that was the day they had to remain in their coffins. It was also believed that someone born on a Saturday could see a vampire when it was invisible. Category:Days of the week ko:토요일 ms:Sabtu ja:土曜日 simple:Saturday th:วันเสาร์

January 2

January 2 is the second day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. 363 days (364 in leap years) remain in the year after this day.

Events

- 366 - Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading Roman Empire.
- 533 - Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
- 1492 - Reconquista: Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
- 1757 - The United Kingdom captures Calcutta, India.
- 1788 - Georgia becomes the 4th state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1793 - Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
- 1815 - Lord Byron marries Anna Isabella Milbanke, Seaham, County Durham.
- 1818 - British Institution of Civil Engineers formed.
- 1859 - Erastus Beadle publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette.
- 1860 - The discovery of the planet Vulcan was announced at a meeting of the Académie des Sciences in Paris.
- 1870 - Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
- 1871 - Amadeus I becomes King of Spain.
- 1872 - Brigham Young is arrested for bigamy (25 wives).
- 1879 - Fred Spofforth claims the first Hat-trick in test cricket on the Sydney Cricket Ground against England.
- 1882 - John D. Rockefeller unites his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust.
- 1890 - Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer for the White House.
- 1893 - Introduction by Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America: Railroad chronometers.
- 1900 - John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
- 1900 - Chicago Canal opens.
- 1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Russian fleet surrenders at Port Arthur, China.
- 1917 - The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
- 1921 - The first religious radio broadcast (KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) .
- 1921 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.
- 1923 - U.S.Interior Secretary Albert Fall resigns due to the Teapot Dome scandal.
- 1929 - Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.
- 1935 - Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
- 1941 - WWII: German bombing severely damaged the Llandaff Cathedral, built in 1290 on the bank of the River Taff in Cardiff, Wales.
- 1941 - The U.S. government announces its Liberty ship program with a stated goal of building 200 freighters. Over 2,700 ships will eventually be constructed by the end of the war.
- 1942 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.
- 1942 - The United States Navy opens a blimp base at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
- 1946 - Unable to resume his rule over Albania after World War II, King Zog abdicated but retained his claim to the throne.
- 1949 - Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
- 1955 - Panamanian president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated.
- 1957 - San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange and Los Angeles Oil Exchange merge.
- 1959 - The first artificial satellite to orbit the sun, Luna 1, was launched by the U.S.S.R.
- 1959 - CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
- 1967 - Dr. Christiaan Barnard performs the second successful heart transplant.
- 1971 - The second Ibrox disaster occurred.
- 1974 - Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum US speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
- 1979 - Sid Vicious goes on trial for the murder of Nancy Spungen.
- 1981 - Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, is arrested.
- 1983 - The musical Annie is performed for the last time after 2,377 shows at the Uris Theatre on Broadway.
- 1991 - Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first African American woman to lead a city of that size and importance.
- 1992 - Paraguay becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1993 - Leaders of the three warring factions in Bosnia meet to discuss peace plans.
- 1998 - Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
- 1999 - A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern USA, causing 14 inches (359mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487mm) at Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C), and 68 deaths are reported.
- 2002 - Levy Mwanawasa takes office as the third President of