Johnny E. Mahaffey
The Novelist Portent
January 1, 2018

Happy New Year... 2018? Really?

First off, it's not technically January 1, 2018.

Are you aware of the Calendar Reform of 1582? Pope Gregory XII presided over it. You don't. Well, let me tell you. Pope Gregory was pushed by the commission to issue a twenty-page reason for a reform. For one, it marked January 1 as the new year, just like Caesar had done way before them. But that's not the shocker. The reform ordered that ten days be taken away as they had been (apparently lost because of the Julian calendar being used for so long?), meaning that after October 4, 1582, it was October 15, 1582. Yeah, mind blown. Right?

That means without the Calendar Reform and the "removal" of the days, today would still be December 22, 2017. That 9/11 was 9/1 (yeah, the extremists followed a date dictated to them by Pope Gregory). So, Happy New Year, in a little over a week...

And the whole world was not on board with the change. Pope Gregory was called the "Roman Antichrist" and everything. Some countries, like Sweden, were not joining the new ten day cut dates until 1753. Think about that. There was no October 5, 1582 for the pope.

Queen Elizabeth I adopted a slightly different reform. On May 22, 1751, King George II passed a bill allowing Britain and its countries to "catch up" in time. September 2, 1752 was followed by September 14, 1752. Changing today—and 9/1—again. It's enough to make your head spin. Did you know that for them, the new year used to be March 25th? Crazy, right? To this day, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Easter on a day different than other Christians around the world—and this is why.

Russia caught up in 1918.

China caught up in 1949.

And guess what? The Gregorian calendar (that's its name) still runs "fast" like a cheap watch, gaining one day every 3,300 years. Unaligned with nature. A year is NOT just 365 days. It is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. And don't get me started on what a leap year is.

All in all, today's date—like all dates—are made up. Search for artworks depicting the Calendar Reform c. 1582. It was a mess. At least on January 3, X-Files is back—or is it?