Year 10~IV Quarter 0 Midway Day

Halfway through the first Quarter of Year 10~IV – Why is this significant?

The four Quarters of theAbysmal Year have an innate symmetry. Not only does it work out so nicely in terms of numbers, but it relates, more or less, to the seasons and to the traditions that observed them more readily than we do.

Take the neopagan wheel of the year, for example:

February 2nd, Imbolc or Candlemas is also known as Groundhog’s Day.

The significance of this day is that it falls, very roughly, midway between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox (in the Northern Hemisphere anyway). For 2010 these dates are Dec 21st and Mar 20th. (as per the USNO)

compare this to theAbysmal Calendar’s Wheel:

Regardless, the division of the year into 364 +1 days creates 4 quarters of 91 days (+1 the one extra day).

The Quarters begin and end on or about the cardinal points. In theAbysmal Calendar, the Quarter 0, the first Quarter, begins with Dec 22nd and ends with Mar 22nd.

The midway point of this Quarter falls on Feb 5th. This means that exactly 45 Days have elapsed, and there are 45 days to go. This is the midday of the week (always a Tuesday), and the midday of the Quarter. Excluding the week in which it falls, 6 full Weeks have elapsed, and there are 6 full Weeks to go. Adds a little more significant to the Groundhog and its shadow, no?

Calendar Symmetry
Calendar Synchronicity & Symmetry

This is true for every Quarter of theAbysmal Calendar. The midway Day falls 45 days from the start, and 45 from the end, and always take place on a Tuesday.

Compared to the Gregorian

the Gregorian Calendar (the current one the world shares Jan-Dec), does not use such exacting symmetry. Its Quarters are 90/91, 92, 92, 91 days respectively. the observed Days (as per the Wheel above) fall unevenly from the Solstices and Equinoxes: 43-46, 40-51, 45-46, 41-49 Days respectively.

Year 10~IV Month 1

108 weeks down, 152 to go until theAbysmal Kalindar’s launch on 21~12~2012.

Note: Day 17, Month 1 equivalent to February 5th is the midway day in Quarter 0 of the year. This means that 45 days have passed since the beginning of the Quarter (and the Year), and there are yet 45 days to go until the end of the Quarter. Each midway day of each Quarter bears the number 5 this year.

theAbysmal Kalindar will associate the holiday imagery associated with Groundhog’s Day to this midway day, as it stands midway between the Solstice and the Equinox, and the shadow image, along with the duration of Winter, are appropriate.

Year 10~IV Lunation 1

The chronological countdown of days continues until theAbysmal Kalindar’s launch on 12~21~2012

Happy Julian New Year

celebrating the New Year Old School.

The Julian Calendar, the predecessor of the Gregorian Calendar now used globally, observes a leap year every 4 years without exception. As the Gregorian Calendar does not observe leap years in years divisible by 100, but does observe them in years divisible by 400, the two calendars have fallen out of synch.

As such, today, January 14th 2010 on the Gregorian Calendar is January 1st on the Julian.

Happy New Year.

Year 10~IV Month 0

104 Weeks passed, 156 to go until 12~21~2012

Happy Abysmal New Year

Year 10~IV official underway. 104 weeks done, 156 to go until 12~21~2012.

Year 10~IV Lunation 0

theAbysmal Countdown to 12~21~2012 continues with the first Lunation of a New Year

theAbysmal Calendar’s countdown to the Winter Solstice in 2012, and the official launch of theAbysmal Calendar sees a few changes from the previous incarnations of this countdown.

The Lunation displays the days remaning until Day 0 (Dec 21st 2012). Also, starting Dec 22nd 2009, theAbysmal Calendar will align theAbysmal weekdays with the Gregorian weekdays in hopes of avoiding unnecessary confusion.

Have a safe and joyous Winter.

Year 9~XIX Month 12

100 Weeks past, 160 to go theAbysmal Calendar’s launch: 21~12~2012

Year 9~XIX Month 11

96 Weeks past, 164 to go theAbysmal Calendar’s launch: 21~12~2012

96 Weeks past, 164 to go theAbysmal Calendar’s launch: 21~12~2012

the question of non-weekdays

weekdays vs new year’s day and the leap year day?

A common argument against proposed calendars focuses on the use of non-weekdays. In the case of theAbysmal Calendar, there are two such days. The New Year’s Day which falls on the equivalent of December 21st, between the last Friday of one year, and the first Saturday of the next, and; the Leap Year Day which falls on the day before the New Year’s Day every 4 years (with an exception every 128 years, when it is not observed).

Setting the Leap Year Day aside for the moment…

The New Year’s Day is a non-weekday in order that the structure of the remaining 52 weeks remain perpetual from year to year. Thus, every week begins on a Saturday, and ends on a Friday, as does every month (of 4 weeks), every quarter (of 13 weeks) and every year (of 52 weeks).

If the New Year’s Day were to be counted as a weekday, yet remained outside of the 52 weeks of the year, this would create a 7-year cycle of years, that would still remain structurally sound. The first day of each year would begin one weekday later than the previous one.

For example, Year 0 13-XIX, begins on Saturday and ends on Friday. The New Year’s Day falls on Saturday. The first day of Year 1 1-IV would fall on Sunday and end on Saturday. Year 2 2-IX would begin on Monday and end on Sunday, etc… See below for an illustration of the months for each year.

The Leap Year Day, however, should remain a non-weekday, as it would disrupt this otherwise logical progression of weekdays every four years, and again every 128 years. Currently, the observation of February 29th as a weekday causes the Gregorian Calendar to repeat its cycle of weekdays, months and days of the month every 400 years. Not exactly user-friendly.

An argument can be made to either observe the New Year’s day as a weekday or not, however, the Leap Year day should not be observed as a weekday. This simply makes a muddle of an otherwise logical arrangment of the days of the year.

Register your opinion on the Poll at the bottom: