What calendars are there?

We are used to the calendar that is usedToday is the most correct and convenient version of the chronology. After all, it is used by most of the world, and we bind all events only to its designations. But this system was introduced only in the sixteenth century. And the responsibility for what is now the calendar, bears the Pope Gregory XIII. This during the years of his reign was introduced the style of the calculation of years, called the Gregorian.

Official calendar - Gregorian

Before him, people tried to coordinate with each otherchange of seasons and length of sunny days. In addition, there was a certain difficulty in coordinating different calendars between each other, because time in each corner of the world was calculated in its own way.

For example, it is eloquent that, whenRussia was adopted Julian calendar, the beginning of the year it was decided to consider March 1, while in the original - September 1. Moreover, even though this calendar was proposed by Julius Caesar as far back as 45 BC, in Russia it began to function only in 988 with the introduction of Christianity. What is the calendar in Russia now? The same as in the whole world - Gregorian.

And although today the Gregorian calendar is consideredthe most convenient and most optimal, it also has a number of shortcomings. For example, a leap year is not necessarily every fourth. At the time when the calendar was kept, it was decided not to consider leap years, which end in two zeros, and hundreds are not multiples of four. So it was easier to adjust the number of days for real time. Its disadvantage is that every year begins with a different day of the week (although this negative is rather doubtful).

In this regard, the last couple of centuries, scientists are trying to find an alternative to the Gregorian calendar. And, although there were enough proposals, the only true and acceptable was not received.

Which calendar is better: sunny or lunar

To better answer the question, what are thecalendars, it is worthwhile to cite their ubiquitous classification. All calendars that are known to man can be divided into three general categories. These are solar, lunar and solar-lunar.

The solar calendar is tied to the full turnoverland around the sun - that is, to the so-called tropical year. This means that for the above cycle must be a complete change of seasons. The official Gregorian calendar is sunny.

The lunar calendar is tied to the lunar month. That is, it is based on the phase change of the moon, visible from the same point. Usually, the length of the lunar month fluctuates, and represents a fractional number of days. This has to be compensated by adding a day.

The solar-lunar calendar takes into accountat the same time a tropical year and a lunar month. It takes into account the number of days in a month, depends on the alternation of phases of the moon. The number of lunar months that will "fit" in the tropical year is also changing.

Every nation has its own calendar

Sometimes people can not move to the generally acceptedcalendar, considering its most correct. What are the calendars in the world? For example, in Israel, along with the official Gregorian calendar, Jewish is used. The Israeli people celebrate the holidays according to their calendar and even write the relevant dates in official documents. This calendar also passed the period of formation, and in different years was characterized by different features.

In Japan in the nineteenth century, the Gregorian calendar was officially introduced. However, the traditional Japanese remained, and its system of calculating the years as well as in Israel is used by the people.

The most famous calendar that does notis currently in use, perhaps, the Mayan calendar. This ancient people contrived to make up their own system of chronology, that echoes of his efforts reached the modern people. After all, the end of the world, which we experienced in 2012, was mistakenly "read" and predicted, thanks to this calendar.

To answer the question of which calendars are,not enough for one article. We did not mention the Armenian calendar, Irish, Soviet, Ethiopian. Each of them is special and interesting with many facts, and not only with the name and the period of calculation.