Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I celebrated my birthday this week, and I’m thinking about how we measure time, especially with the unusual events of the past year.
The traditionally accepted secular calendar we are all used to is the Gregorian calendar, and it is predated by the Romulus calendar, and the Julian calendar.
The Romulus calendar had ten months from March through December. The year started with the spring equinox and ended 304 days later at the end of December, leaving a no man’s land of winter until the next year began anew.
The second Roman empire Numa, decided to change the system to a lunar based year, and give names to the nameless period of winter. January and February were added and the year, based on lunar cycles, resulted in 355 days.
At the time in Rome, even numbers were considered unlucky, so every month had either 29 or 31 days except February which had to have 28 in order to round out the Lunar year at 355 days.
Measuring the passage of time by lunar cycles is as good a way as any, except if you are a farmer trying to plant your crops based on the Earth’s relative position in orbit of the Sun.
A 355 day lunar year, after a few years, resulted in mismatched seasonality for the crop growing population. This was corrected by inserting a 27 day leap month called Mercedonious every few years. Starting on February 24th, the month would be added, or not, at the discretion of the roman high priests.
This obviously resulted in significant confusion not knowing whether an entire month would be added, or being able to plan ahead for agrarian lifestyles.
Julius Caesar changed the calendar back to a Solar based calendar with 365 days, (and a single leap day when appropriate) but maintained the 28 day month of February. In order to realign the correct seasonality of the months with the new calendar, the year 46 BC was 445 solar days long.
I think we can all sympathize with our ancient ancestors, as 2020 (and especially that past 12 months from March to March) has seemed like a 445 day year with mismatched seasonality and no predictability.
Still, the sun rose and set, the moon changed phases, and the requisite number of calendar pages were flipped. The year passed by, but how did you measure it?
For me, (and I would venture for most of us) the year brought a level of stress and uncertainty that I had not previously known. That necessitated a shift in focus and an awareness of my emotions, and the habits that feed them.
A lot of my plans and my ambitions were put on hold, and that energy needed an outlet. I find myself restless, angry, frustrated, and overwhelmed. I think more than anything the last twelve months presented an opportunity to confront these things in my life, rather than occupy myself with other things.
When everything is shut down, the internal struggle is amplified. The struggle continues, but I have an awareness and an appreciation for it that I don’t think would have been possible without the last year.
Seasons of love tells us there are 525,600 minutes and asks us how we measure a year. Regardless of the calendar you subscribe to, I hope the last twelve months have brought you an awareness and an appreciation like only a pandemic can.
Thanks for joining me, stay safe and stay sweaty my friends.
