Between 1582 and 1753, most of Europe adopted a major change in the counting of days, switching from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar (which is now represented in dates by attaching the letters O. S., for "Old Style") became standard around 313 CE. It measured years as 365 days plus a leap day every four years, which is an over-correction for the actual period of 365.24 days. As a result, by the sixteenth century, astronomical Spring--which we match up every year with March 20/21--was occurring in early March. In 1582, Pope Gregory III decreed that the calendar would be adjusted by simply losing eleven days and by ignoring leap days in century-years not divisible by 400. "Losing eleven days" creates lots of fun when interpreting dates reported in the 16th-18th centuries. For example, the birth records for George Washington show that he was born on February 11, 1732, while Great Britain was still following the Julian calendar. By the "new style" Gregorian counting, that date is February 22. How the change became standard throughout Europe over a period of 171 years involved a lot of political and religious intrigue. But the point for today is that this would be New Year's Day if we were still using the Julian calendar. Well, technically it would be on what we call January 15, because of adding three more "mistaken" leap days in 1700, 1800 and 1900, but I'm sure you get the point of the eleven-day calendar switch. Dating is such fun. Happy Old New Year!
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