Does anyone else ever wonder why the calendar year doesn't begin with an annual astronomical event?
Why doesn't the year begin or end with a solstice or equinox?
Why not with the perihelion or aphelion of our orbit around the sun?
Both the winter solstice (summer solstice for the southern hemisphere) and the earth at perihelion occur within days of the beginning of the calendar year. If you're going to pick a mark to count the days around the sun, why not use something related to the actual journey around the sun?
I suppose if you're just going to pick a day and one of your months is named for a two-faced god that has a face looking backward and a face looking forward (Janus) -- well, that makes some kind of mythological sense.
Yeah, I think about weird things sometimes.
John
You're retired. You can investigate this. How soon can we expect a thesis?
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteHere's my thesis:
Humans are dumb.
Change my mind.