Wednesday, February 18, 2004
About time [128]
Julius Caesar's calendar, with one leap day every four years, would have been correct if a year was 365¼ days long. But it isn't. Not quite. A year is 365.24219 days long - a tiny difference, but equivalent to one day less every 128 years. That's why the Gregorian Calendar was introduced in 1582, requiring one extra day to be lost from the calendar for every 128 years elapsed - ten days in total. The UK changed over in 1752, over 128 years later, by which time an extra eleventh day needed to be lost. Most Eastern Orthodox churches still follow the Julian calendar and are now 13 days adrift - celebrating Christmas on January 7th.
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