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SAINT PAUL’S SCHOOL, RAJKOT

Chapter 2: ALMANAC
Subject: Social Studies
Std. IV Div. _____ Name: ________________________ Roll No.: _____ Date:_____________

INTRODUCTION

We are aware about the term ‘Calendar’ and its uses. In the past, the first calendars
were developed to track the seasons and farming
schedules. Some calendars recorded historic or
religious calendar. Today it shows the date, the day
of the week, and the month of a particular year. It
even lists many important dates and events and is
therefore very useful to us in many ways.
An Almanac is a calendar of events, but it gives
information about natural events that will happen
in the year, for example about the sun and the
moon. The sun does not rise and set at the same time every day. The moon changes its
shape every day. The time and dates of these events throughout the year are given in an
Almanac.

THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR

The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used
calendar in the world today. It is also known as the
‘Western or Christian’ calendar. It was introduced by
the Pope (Gregory XIII (r. 1572–1585), after whom it is
named) in order to keep the spring equinox at a
similar time of year to Easter.
Gregorian calendar first came in Europe in the year
1582 and as the ruling powers of Europe were
Christian, the birth of Jesus Christ became the starting
point of this calendar. The year of his birth is numbered as ‘0’.
This calendar is a solar calendar based on a 365-day common year divided into 12
months of irregular lengths i.e. 11 months have 30 or 31 days while the second month
February has only 28 days in common months.

Every fourth year is a leap year when one extra day is added to February to make it 29
days. Thus a leap year has 366 days. The year 2016 was Leap Year.

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 TIMELINES AND HOW TO CALCULATE DATES
A timeline presents the events or happenings in the order in which they occurred.
Timelines are very useful in understanding history. They help us to understand a
historical period relating it to the time before and after.

History deals with complete story of mankind. Measuring this long data was a big
problem and so the historians’ introduced to the concept of A.D (Anno Domini, the
year of the Lord Jesus Christ) and B.C (Before Christ)
We take the birth of Christ as the ‘mid-point’ and number it as ‘0’. For BC (before the
birth of Christ), we calculate the date backward. The closer we come to the birth of
Christ, the number decreases. For AD (after the birth of Christ), we calculate the dates
forward. Here, the numbers keep increasing. As we come nearer to the year of the
birth of Christ, the dates in BC reduce. 2nd BC comes after 3rd BC. But, as we come
nearer to a AD2, the dates in AD increases. In AD, AD2 comes before AD3.

*CE and BCE*

The letters CE or BCE with a year mean after or before the year 1.
 CE is an abbreviation for Common Era.
 BCE is short for Before Common Era.
CE and BCE are used in exactly the same way as the traditional abbreviations AD and
BC.

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 SAKA CALENDAR
The national calendar based on the Saka Era, with Chaitra as its first month and a
normal year of 365 days, was adopted from the 22nd March, 1957 along with the
Gregorian calendar for: 1) Gazette of India, 2) News broadcast by All India Radio, 3)
Calendars issued by the Government of India and 4) Government communications
addressed to the public.
Dates of the national calendar have a permanent
correspondence with the dates of the Gregorian
calendar, 1. Chaitra falling on 22 March normally and
on 21 March in leap year.
Normally Chaitra month consists 30 days and starts
on March 22 according to Gregorian calendar, but, in
the leap year Chaitra consists 31 days and Starts on March 21. Years are counted in the
Saka calendar from 78 (AD 78 / 78 CE) of the Gregorian calendar. For example, if it is
year 2021 as per the Gregorian Calendar. To get the Saka year, subtract 78 from it i.e.
(2021- 78 = 1948). Hence, the year 2021 is year 1948 as per the saka calendar.

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 FACT FILE

*The term calendar is taken from calendae, the term for the first day of the month in
the Roman calendar, related to the verb calare "to call out", referring to the "calling"
of the new moon when it was first seen.
* The oldest calendar may be 30,000 years old.
*Calendar applies not only to a particular way of
timekeeping but also to a specific record or device
displaying such a scheme, for example, an appointment
book in the form of a pocket calendar (or personal
organizer), desktop calendar, a wall calendar, etc.
*Historical calendars are often grouped into larger
Personal Organiser categories by historical period; thus O'Neil (1976)
distinguishes the groupings Egyptian calendars (Ancient
Egypt), Babylonian calendars (Ancient Mesopotamia), Indian calendars (Hindu and
Buddhist traditions of the Indian subcontinent), Chinese calendars and Mesoamerican
calendars.
* All the festivals and holidays in India are calculated according to the Saka Calendar.

QUICKIES

1. Schedules - a plan of things that will happen or of work that must be done
2. Almanac - An almanac is a book published every year which contains information
about the movements of the planets, the changes of the moon and the tides, and
the dates of important anniversaries.

3. Gregorian calendar- the system of naming the months and years that is used all over
the world.

4. equinox- when days and nights are of equal duration.

5. correspondence-a close connection or relationship between two or more things.

6. era- a very long period of time.
7. cater- provide with what is needed or required.

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