Almanac

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Almanac (disambiguation).

A page from the Almanac for the Hindu year 1871-72.

An almanac (also spelled almanack) is an annual publication containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar. Astronomical data and various statistics are also found in almanacs, such as the times of the rising and setting of the sun and moon, eclipses, hours of full tide, stated festivals of churches, terms of courts, lists of all types, timelines, and more. The word almanac comes from the Arabic ألمناخ al-manaakh, "the climate," reflecting its primary original purpose of providing information about the calendar and weather useful in agriculture.

1 Early almanacs
2 Contemporary almanacs
3 Macao Yearbook
4 See also

[edit] Early almanacs

The precursor to the almanac was the Greek weather-calendar, the parapegma. Ptolemy, the Alexandrian astronomer (2nd century) wrote a treatise, Phaseis—"phases of fixed stars and collection of weather-changes" is the translation of its full title—the core of which is a parapegma, a list of dates of seasonally regular weather changes, first appearances and last appearances of stars or constellations at sunrise or sunset, and solar events such as solstices, all organized according to the solar year. With the astronomical computations were expected weather phenomena, composed as a digest of observations made by various authorities of the past. Parapegmata had been composed for centuries.

Ptolemy believed that the astronomical phenomena caused the changes in seasonal weather; his explanation of why there was not an exact correlation of these events was that the physical influences of other heavenly bodies also came into play. Hence for him, weather prediction was a special division of astrology [1].

When almanacs were first devised, people still saw little difference between predicting the movements of the stars and tides, and predicting the future in the divination sense. Early almanacs therefore contained general horoscopes, as well as the more concrete information. One almanac, Poor Robin's Almanack (not to be confused with Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac) parodied these horoscopes in its 1664 issue, saying "This month we may expect to hear of the Death of some Man, Woman, or Child, either in Kent or Christendom." This sort of almanac still exists as Old Moore's Almanac, although their more mainstream modern descendants are the Your Year in the Stars supplements in the New Year edition of some newspapers and magazines.

The origin of the word almanac is unclear. The Encyclopædia Britannica says that it is of uncertain medieval Arabic origin, comparing it to the modern Arabic word for weather, al-manakh. Other dictionaries have it from the Greek almenikhiaka for ephemeris, via the Medieval Latin almanach and the Middle English almenak. Richard Verstegan in his A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence (1605) says that the word originates in the Old Saxon Al-mon-aght, which he translates as "Al-mon-heed, to wit, the regard or observation of all the moons". He says that the Saxons would mark the new and full moons on an engraved square stick which they used to predict seasons and festivals - the stick was the Al-mon-aght.

[edit] Contemporary almanacs

Currently published almanacs such as Whitaker's Almanack have expanded their scope and contents beyond that of their historical counterparts. Modern almanacs include a comprehensive presentation of statististical and descriptive data covering the entire world. Contents also include discussions of topical developments and a summary of recent historical events. Other currently published almanacs (ca. 2006) include Information Please Almanac and The Old Farmer's Almanac.

Major topics covered by almanacs (reflected by their tables of contents) include: geography, government, demographics, agriculture, economics and business, health and medicine, religion, mass media, transportation, science and technology, sport, and awards/prizes.

Specialized almanacs also are being published, such as The Almanac of American Politics published by the National Journal.

[edit] Macao Yearbook

The Macao Yearbook has been published by the Government Information Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) since 2002. It outlines major events, progress and changes made in the course of Macao’s political, economic, social and cultural development on a yearly and systematic basis, with the aim of promoting Macao and providing detailed information and data for all who wish to study and understand the territory.

To facilitate the accessibility to the Macao Yearbook, the Government Information Bureau launched the electronic version of the Macao Yearbook in 2006 while continuously improving the yearbook’s print edition.

The Macao Yearbook is divided into five sections: Administrative Priorities of the MSAR Government; Calendar of Events; Review of the MSAR; Overview of the Macao SAR; and Appendices.

Using up-to-date data, the Review of the MSAR records the major changes and developments, as well as the key achievements in administrative, legislative and judicial areas in Macao during the previous year.

Consisting of 16 chapters, the Overview of the MSAR presents information on the political and administrative system; legal and judicial system; external relations; economy; gaming industry; tourism; public order; education; culture and sport; health and social welfare; media, communications and information technology; land, infrastructure, housing and public utilities; transport; geography, environment and population; religion and customs; and history. To cater for the community’s needs, coverage of the gaming industry has been suitably extended and now forms a separate chapter from the overview of the economy. In general, the Overview of the MSAR emphasises the presentation of information in a systematic and integrated manner.

Meanwhile the Appendices provide the following information: principal officials of the MSAR; members of the Executive Council and Legislative Assembly; directory of Government departments and agencies; representative offices of the Government Tourist Office; countries exercising consular jurisdiction in the MSAR; visa-free access for holders of MSAR passports and travel permits; countries/territories granted visa-free access by the MSAR; multilateral treaties applicable to the MSAR; decoration, medals and certificates of merit conferred by the MSAR; and major statistical data about the MSAR.

Figures and data cited by the Macao Yearbook mainly come from the Statistics and Census Service as well as other Government departments. The majority of figures correspond to year-end data, though some correspond to more up-to-date data according to the actual circumstances to improve the timeliness of the yearbook’s information.

To enrich the content of the Macao Yearbook and enhance its readability, the publisher makes great effort to match words and figures with suitable photographs. Ever since the Macao Yearbook 2004 was adorned by more than 30 winning entries from the photographic competition entitled “New Faces of Macao” co-organised by the Government Information Bureau and eight local photography organisations, the Macao Yearbook has combined reference materials with photographic art, making it more visually appealing.

The Macao Yearbook is published in three languages, namely Chinese, Portuguese and English. The Portuguese and English versions of the Macao Yearbook is translated and edited from the Chinese original.