About Calendars and Measuring Time

Artifacts from the Paleolithic suggest that ancient people used the moon to measure time with lunar calendars, which consisted of 12 or 13 lunar months (354 or 384 days).

The seasons quickly drift in a calendar based solely on twelve lunar months without adding extra days or months. To make up for the difference between a full year (now known to be about 365.24 days) and a year of twelve lunar months, some years in lunisolar calendars have a thirteenth month added to them.

The numbers twelve and thirteen have been significant in many cultures due to their relationship with the months and years. Another calendar type was developed in Mesoamerica, particularly in the ancient Mayan civilization. These calendars were based on religion and astronomy, with a year consisting of 18 months and each month consisting of 20 days. Additionally, there were five epagomenal days at the end of the year.

In 45 BC, Julius Caesar introduced reforms that changed the Roman world's calendar to a solar one. However, the Julian calendar had a flaw, as its intercalation still allowed the astronomical solstices and equinoxes to progress against it by approximately 11 minutes every year.

Pope Gregory XIII introduced a correction to fix this issue in 1582. Although different nations took centuries to adopt the Gregorian calendar, it is now the most commonly used calendar worldwide.

The Kingdom of Unixploria uses the Gregorian calendar but keeps an older Norse calendar to honor our Viking ancestors. Like the Calendar for Diversity and Inclusion, our Norse Calendar offers another perspective: a culturally homogenous calendar where nature sets the tone for festivities and seasons. We need both the global and the local in our modern times, and we need both a global, tolerant outlook and a culturally homogenous heritage to keep our feet on the ground. 

• N.B. Red days (bold text) are mandatory flag days.
• (*) = This holiday or observation falls on a different date each year.