Pax Calendar
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The Pax calendar was invented by James A. Colligan in 1930 as a reform of the Gregorian calendar.
Unlike other proposals such as the International Fixed Calendar and the World Calendar, it preserves the 7-day week by intercalating a week to a perpetual year of 52 weeks = 364 days.
The year is divided into 13 months of 28 days, whose names are the same as in the Gregorian calendar except that a month called Columbus occurs between November and December. The first day of every week, month and year would be Sunday.
In years that have an extra week, a one-week month called Pax would be inserted after Columbus.
| No. | Name | Days |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | January | 28 |
| 2 | February | 28 |
| 3 | March | 28 |
| 4 | April | 28 |
| 5 | May | 28 |
| 6 | June | 28 |
| 7 | July | 28 |
| 8 | August | 28 |
| 9 | September | 28 |
| 10 | October | 28 |
| 11 | November | 28 |
| 12 | Columbus | 28 |
| 13 | Pax (Leap week) | 7 |
| 13/14 | December | 28 |
To get the same mean year as the Gregorian Calendar it adds a leap week to 71 out of 400 years. It does so by adding the leap week Pax to every year whose last two digits make up a number that is divisible by six or are 99. Years ending with 00 have Pax, unless the year number is divisible by 400.
The Pax Calendar proposal is mentioned in the book "Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar" (by Duncan Steel, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000, page 288):
- "As a matter of fact, this leap-week idea is not a new one. and such calendars have been suggested from time to time. ... In 1930, there was another leap-week calendar proposal put forward, this time by a Jesuit, James A. Colligan, but once more the Easter question scuppered it within the Catholic Church."
Colligan's original 1930 proposal is reprinted on Rick McCarty's Website on Calendar reform.
Contents |
[edit] New Year's Day
Unlike the International Fixed Calendar, the Pax calendar has a new year day that differs from the Gregorian new year's day. This is a necessary consequence of it intercalating a week rather than a day.
The following tables show that Gregorian dates of some Pax Calendar New Year Days. NB: Those dates that occur in December occur in the preceding Gregorian year.
Jan 4 1931 Jan 3 1932 1937 1943 Jan 2 leap 1938 1944 1949 1955 Jan 1 1928 1933 1939 leap 1950 1956 1961 1967 Dec 31 leap 1934 1940 1945 1951 leap 1962 1968 1973 1979 Dec 30 1929 1935 leap 1946 1952 1957 1963 leap 1974 1980 1985 Dec 29 1930 1936 1941 1947 1953 1958 1964 1969 1975 leap 1986 Dec 28 leap 1942 1948 leap 1959 leap 1970 1976 1981 1987 Dec 27 leap 1954 1960 1965 1971 leap 1982 1988 Dec 26 leap 1966 1972 1977 1983 leap Dec 25 leap 1978 1984 1989 Dec 24 leap 1990
Jan 2 2000 Jan 1 leap Dec 31 2001 2007 Dec 30 1991 2002 2008 2013 2019 Dec 29 1992 1997 2003 leap 2014 2020 2025 2031 Dec 28 leap 1998 2004 2009 2015 leap 2026 2032 2037 2043 Dec 27 1993 1999 leap 2010 2016 2021 2027 leap 2038 2044 2049 Dec 26 1994 2005 2011 leap 2022 2028 2033 2039 leap 2050 Dec 25 1995 2006 2012 2017 2023 leap 2034 2040 2045 2051 Dec 24 1996 leap 2018 2024 2029 2035 leap 2046 2052 Dec 23 leap leap 2030 2036 2041 2047 leap Dec 22 leap 2042 2048 2053 Dec 21 leap 2054
The next table shows what happens around a typical turn of the century and also the full range (18 Dec to 6 Jan) of 19 days that the Pax Calendar New Year Day varies against the Gregorian calendar.
Jan 6 2301 2307
Jan 5 2302 2308
Jan 4 2303 leap
Jan 3 2304 2309
Jan 2 2101 2107 leap 2310
Jan 1 2102 2108 2305 2311
Dec 31 2103 leap 2300 2306 2312
Dec 30 2104 2109 leap
Dec 29 leap 2110
Dec 28 2105 2111 2291
Dec 27 2100 2106 2112 2292 2297
Dec 26 leap leap 2298
Dec 25 2293 2299
Dec 24 2091 2294
Dec 23 2092 2097 2295
Dec 22 leap 2098 2296
Dec 21 2093 2099 leap
Dec 20 2094
Dec 19 2095
Dec 18 2096
leap
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Sources and references
- Duncan Steeel (2000). Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 422. ISBN 0471298271.
- Lance Latham (1998). Standard C Date/Time Library: programming the world's calendars and clocks. CMP Books, 471. ISBN 0879304960.
