Today in History: The British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (the previous day was September 2) on this day in 1752. The Gregorian calendar was decreed in 1582 in a papal bull by Pope Gregory XIII, to correct the erroneous assumption in the then-current Julian calendar that a year lasts 365.25 days, when in reality it is about 365.2422 days. Portugal, and the Catholic states of the Holy Roman Empire were first to change to the Gregorian calendar. Thursday, 4 October 1582, was followed by Friday, 15 October 1582, with ten days skipped. Countries which did not change until the 18th century had by then observed an additional leap year (1700), necessitating the dropping of eleven days. Some countries did not change until the 19th or 20th century, necessitating one or two further days to be omitted from the calendar.
In England, Queen Elizabeth I considered adopting a Gregorian-like royal commission recommendation to drop 10 days from the calendar but she was opposed by the Anglican bishops, who argued that the Pope was undoubtedly the fourth great beast of Daniel, which led the Queen to drop the matter.
The Aztec calendar was more accurate than the Julian or Gregorian. The Aztecs had eighteen months in their year, each month containing twenty days, in addition to five extra days known as the barren days. In ancient Egyptian a year was 365 1/4 days. The early Chinese year was 354 days (lunar year)with days added at intervals to keep the Chinese lunar calendar aligned with the seasons. Early Greece had 354 days, with days added; the Jewish year had 354 days, with days added and the early Roman year was 304 days, amended in 700 B.C. to 355 days.
The word "Month" comes from the word "Moon."
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