The Gregorian Calendar: Gregory’s Greatest

A man named Pope Gregory wanted to make a new and improved version of the Julian calendar to bring the date for the celebration of Easter to the time of year in which it was celebrated when it was first introduced by the early Church. Pope Gregory succeeded in his mission and created the Gregorian Calendar, a sun-powered calendar with 12 months of 28–31 days each. Most (Catholic European) people took kindly to the new calendar, and they found it very useful. A lot of Catholic Europeans started utilizing the Gregorian Calendar. They used it for all sorts of things. These days, many people all over the world (with a few exceptions) use the Gregorian Calendar for lots of things, such as birthdays, business meetings, global events, and holidays.

The Gregorian Calendar, also known as the Western or Christian calendar, is a solar calendar with 12 months of 28–31 days each, created by Pope Gregory XIII. It is the most commonly used calendar in the world today.

In 1582, the Gregorian Calendar was adopted by most of Catholic Europe, as instructed by its creator, Pope Gregory, in the papal bull Inter gravissimas: which was proclaimed in February of that year. This calendar was promulgated in 1582 as a reform of the Julian calendar and is based on a 365-day common year divided into 12 months of irregular lengths.

However useful the Gregorian Calendar may be, some people did not react kindly to its installation in the world at large and the changes it brought to their year and their day, such as the people of England; the British. There have been rumours, from some accounts, that rioters supposedly took to the streets, demanding they be given back their eleven days. However, most historians these days believe these rumours to be highly exaggerated or fake, so the general advice would be not to believe those who buy into these ridiculous and outrageous rumours.

There have been a few speculations on why the Gregorian Calendar might have been made, but the surest motivation would be that it was to bring the date for the celebration of Easter to the time of year in which it was celebrated when it was introduced by the early Church.

These days, hundreds of cities and thousands of people all over the world use the Gregorian Calendar to keep track of upcoming meetings, deadlines and milestones. They also use this calendar to keep help visualise their schedules and remember important dates, such as birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries. Of course, helpful as it may be, not everyone uses the Gregorian Calendar. There are some countries and some groups of people or some religions(such as Islam) who see fit to use other types or other versions of calendars, such as Afghanistan and Iran (which use the Solar Hijri calendar), Ethiopia (which uses the Ethiopian calendar), and Nepal (which uses Vikram Samvat and Nepal Sambat).

References

http://www.britannica.com/

http://www.wikipedia.com/

http://www.timeanddate.com/

http://www.history.com/

http://www.infoplease.com/

Author biography

Fathimath Enaal Ilyas is a 13 year old girl, and is one of the few lucky participants of the Leaders of Tomorrow programme of theCircle by Ugail Foundation. She is generally a very quiet and reserved girl, preferring sitting down and reading a good book to running around on a playing field. Despite her shy nature, Enaal holds a certain enthusiasm and love for anything scientific, adoring the chemistry and technology involved in it all.

Cite this article as:
Fathimath Enaal Ilyas, The Gregorian calendar, theCircle Composition, Volume 2, (2022). https://thecirclecomposition.org/the-gregorian-calendar/