It's time to talk about the calendar again. In 1752, in Great Britain and colonial America, today was 2 September, and tomorrow was 14 September. Yes, eleven days went missing. When you see dates in the 1600s-1700s you can often see the letters "O. S." attached, meaning "Old Style." In 1752, the British government adopted the Gregorian calendar to replace the ancient Julian calendar, which had counted time in a way that had drifted out of step with "the seasons." In particular, the equinoxes that mark the beginnings of Fall and Spring were eleven days off from their expected dates, and so it was time (haha) to change dates so that the autumnal equinox (the actual event in the sky) would happen every year on 21 or 22 September. If you prefer ancient calendaring, you can call today the 19th of August, O. S., because the Julian and Gregorian calendars have now drifted 14 days apart. My tie features sunbursts and tables of calendar cycles.
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