1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. So we're 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: kind of into holiday time, we are, and as we 5 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: approached the end of the year, some people may already 6 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: be making their plans for the new year. Yeah, you know, 7 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: you know what I did. I didn't make plans for 8 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,840 Speaker 1: the new year, but I did go through my work 9 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,239 Speaker 1: calendar for the new year and I marked all the 10 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: company holidays. Nice. Um, yeah, I mean, I listen, we'll 11 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: talk about this one behind the scenes, but we all 12 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: know I have a little problem with planners and addiction. Um. So, 13 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:48,599 Speaker 1: if you're like me, you might be filling out your 14 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: calendar or checking to see what day of the week, 15 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 1: your birthday or a favorite holiday is going to be 16 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: on next year. But here's the thing. What if the 17 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: coming year was going to be completely different than any 18 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: year you had ever known in terms of how you 19 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,319 Speaker 1: marked the days of the year in the passage of time. Like, 20 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,680 Speaker 1: what if someone decided that we were going to change 21 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,119 Speaker 1: at all and you had to learn a completely new calendar. 22 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: That sounds like an our deal sounds awful. We mentioned 23 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: the Revolutionary calendar, which is also known as the French 24 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:23,760 Speaker 1: Republican calendar in our recent episode on the famous magician 25 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: Robert Rudin and his date of birth we mentioned in 26 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: that episode is reported as both December six and December seven, 27 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:33,679 Speaker 1: depending on the source you look at, for the simple 28 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: reason that he was born during this relatively brief period 29 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: where France abandoned the Gregorian calendar for an entirely different one, 30 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: and by the time the country reverted back to the 31 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: Gregorian calendar, the Robert family and probably a lot of 32 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: others realized that they had some dates in their family 33 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: celebrations that did not quite line up the way that 34 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: they thought, and that is very understandable what you see 35 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: just how different the French Republican calendar had been. So 36 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: today we're going to talk about what catalyzed that shift 37 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: in timekeeping and the issues that came with it. But 38 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 1: to get to the point where we can talk about 39 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: France's bold experiment, we have to talk a little bit 40 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 1: about how calendars developed. It kind of a high level 41 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: review and got to the point where we're all using 42 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: pretty much the same one today. Yeah, there have been 43 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: various calendars created by humans throughout history as efforts were 44 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: made to track time. Some of them are still in 45 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: use in some context today. The two primary components that 46 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: have driven almost all of them since the beginning have 47 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: been the observable movements of the Sun and the moon, 48 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: So the days that follow the rising and the setting 49 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,639 Speaker 1: of the Sun and the moon, and the months that 50 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,799 Speaker 1: follow changes in the moon as it goes through its 51 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 1: lunar cycle, passing from the new Moon through its various 52 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,239 Speaker 1: waxing and waning phases, full moon back to new moon, 53 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: whole regular cycle of observable things in the world right, 54 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: and there have been a lot of different ways of 55 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:13,920 Speaker 1: arranging those two things into calendars. For many cultures, including 56 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: Egyptian and Hindu tabulations, the day started not at midnight 57 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,359 Speaker 1: but at dawn, and others like the Greeks and Babylonians, 58 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:27,359 Speaker 1: counted their days starting at sunset. Some calendars have focused 59 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: primarily on the lunar year, prioritizing the lunar cycle as 60 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 1: the main way of determining a year over the solar cycle. 61 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: The problem is that those two cycles, the lunar cycle 62 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: and solar cycle, don't quite line up. The Hebrew and 63 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: Chinese calendars have had a combined solar lunar year, though 64 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: the number of days in a year is less typically 65 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: than the calendar most of us are familiar with, and 66 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: then on leap years they get not an extra day, 67 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: but a leap month, so that then you have thirteen months. 68 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: If you only use a lunar cycle to determine the year, 69 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: you end up about eleven days short of a solar year. 70 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: And there have been lots of different solutions to this problem, 71 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: and those solutions have had varying degrees of success. Some calendars, 72 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,359 Speaker 1: like the Chinese and Hebrew ones we just mentioned, add 73 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: an extra month for basically leap years. Others add extra days. 74 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: There have always been problems with making those exactly line up. 75 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: Those problems only get more complicated the longer any given 76 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:38,160 Speaker 1: calendar is used, because what starts out as just a 77 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: tiny incremental difference causes things to really slide around over time. Yeah. 78 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 1: For example, the Egyptians identified the three hundred and sixty 79 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: five days solar year and divided it into twelve lunar cycles, 80 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: with five extra days landing at the end of the year. 81 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: Not perfect, but pretty good, but a solar year isn't 82 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: really three hundred sixty five days. We know now that 83 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:06,159 Speaker 1: it's three hundred sixty five days, five hours, forty eight minutes, 84 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 1: forty six seconds. You can even get more incremental beyond that, 85 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: and over the course of say a ten year period, 86 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: that difference may not be especially problematic, but it's the 87 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:18,839 Speaker 1: year stretch on. More and more dates related to things 88 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: like harvest could get really really wonky. And absolutely no 89 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: calendar is perfect, but we have gotten more and more 90 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: precise beyond just counting the days and the months. Every 91 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: day has to be subdivided as well. In addition to 92 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: starting a day at different points in the sunrise and 93 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: sunset cycle, variations and how the day has been subdivided 94 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:46,320 Speaker 1: over the centuries have been numerous as well. Some of 95 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 1: these have shifted with the seasons the same way a 96 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:52,479 Speaker 1: calendar might, so that during the summer the day was 97 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,799 Speaker 1: measured slightly differently than during the winter when the days 98 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: were shorter. We talked about that in an episode where 99 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: we talked about Japanese timekeeping in clocks that had different 100 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:07,159 Speaker 1: faces that accounted for all of these. These were called 101 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 1: temporal hours, and the day always had the same number 102 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:13,720 Speaker 1: to mark the time the sun went above the horizon. 103 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: All the way back to ancient Egypt, there had been 104 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: twenty four hour systems, but that number was separated into 105 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: twelve hours of day and twelve hours of night. So 106 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,039 Speaker 1: in the summer, when the sun was above the horizon 107 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:30,119 Speaker 1: for longer periods of time, the length of an hour 108 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: at night would be shorter, the length of an hour 109 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,040 Speaker 1: during the day would be longer. And we should note, 110 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: of course, that this was also a pretty localized way 111 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,919 Speaker 1: to think about time. There was really no accounting for 112 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 1: the fact that people who lived closer to the Earth's 113 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: poles would have different amounts of daylight and night. So 114 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,159 Speaker 1: places Lakes Falbird, Norway, which is an archipelago in the 115 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,840 Speaker 1: Arctic Ocean that experiences the phenomenon known as midnight sun 116 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: with constant daylight during parts of the summer, just could 117 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 1: not function on the same twelve hours of daylight system, 118 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:06,119 Speaker 1: for example, that Egypt could, and it actually wasn't until 119 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: the thirteen hundreds that hours became standardized to twenty four 120 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 1: equal increments in a day. Building on the Greek lunar calendar, 121 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: the Romans developed the Roman Republican calendar, which was adopted 122 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: around seven thirty eight b c. E. This was a 123 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: ten month calendar that was really short, just three d 124 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: four days, with another sixty one point five days that 125 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: were just kind of left hanging to cover the coldest months. 126 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: So these ten months have pretty familiar names Martius, Apulius, Maius, 127 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: Junius Quintilius, sextialists September, October, November, and December. January and 128 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: February got added later, and February was originally at the 129 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: end of the calendar before it was moved to go 130 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: between January and March. That happened in the fifth century BC. 131 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: Uh all sounds confusing, and it probably was. Yeah, the 132 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:08,120 Speaker 1: concept of like true standardization just was not really in play. 133 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: In the first century b C. Under Julius Caesar, there 134 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: was a fairly massive overhaul of this confusing calendar. This 135 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: combined the Egyptian Solar calendar with the existing system to 136 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: clean up some of those issues with lagging accuracy and 137 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 1: the need to insert so many different stop gaps year 138 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: to year to account for the days that the initial 139 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: setup just couldn't handle. The Julian calendar, which is credited 140 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: in large part to an astronomer named the signs looks 141 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 1: pretty familiar. There were three d sixty five days, twelve 142 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,439 Speaker 1: months of thirty or thirty one days, except for February, 143 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: which had twenty eight. The leap year existed, but they 144 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 1: didn't add the day of February twenty nine. Instead, it 145 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: was February twenty three for two days. I didn't see 146 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:57,959 Speaker 1: why that was the case, but it's pretty interesting. It's 147 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: just so weird and random to at the Julian calendar 148 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:04,680 Speaker 1: in place. Julius Caesar had declared that the year forty 149 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:07,559 Speaker 1: six BC was just going to have to be extra long. 150 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 1: It had four hundred forty five days in it. The 151 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: Julian calendar was a big step forward in terms of accuracy, 152 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 1: but it also had problems. Specifically, the length of the 153 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:22,600 Speaker 1: year had been miscalculated, not by that much, just by 154 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:26,439 Speaker 1: eleven minutes and fourteen seconds, so again, not something that 155 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: would be hugely problematic for a while, but the Julian 156 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 1: calendar stayed in effect for more than fifteen hundred years 157 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:38,080 Speaker 1: without any major changes, and those eleven minutes added up. 158 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:40,960 Speaker 1: If you do the math over the course of fifteen 159 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:45,720 Speaker 1: hundred years, that turns into more than eleven days of discrepancy. 160 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: There are still people who use the Julian calendar, particularly 161 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:53,760 Speaker 1: the Eastern Orthodox churches. We've had various episodes of the 162 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,200 Speaker 1: show that have like had different dates depending on like 163 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: whether the particular place was still on this calendar. But 164 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:05,080 Speaker 1: today it's more than thirteen days off. Even so that's 165 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: pretty good considering how long it had been used. The 166 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: next significant revision of the calendar came from Pope Gregory 167 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: the thirteenth, who I kind of want to do an 168 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: episode on. At some point after having lost a day 169 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 1: per century, the Julian calendar was, you know, in this 170 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: thirteen to fourteen days off issue by the time of 171 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:28,280 Speaker 1: Gregory the thirteenth papacy. And while we call this a 172 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: significant revision, it was really more of a correction because 173 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,720 Speaker 1: the structure of the calendar remained the same twelve months, 174 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:37,200 Speaker 1: three hundred sixty five days a year with leap years. 175 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: But to make this correction in the year fifteen eighty two, 176 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: the day after October four was October fifteenth. Of course, 177 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:49,760 Speaker 1: they just jumped ahead a little bit. After that, the 178 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 1: new rule was instituted that no century year could be 179 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:56,680 Speaker 1: a leap year unless it was evenly divisible by four 180 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: hundred so while the year two thousand, for example, was 181 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: a ep yer, the year will not be. This may 182 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:07,320 Speaker 1: sound perhaps like a kookie rule, but it actually is 183 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: something that was developed to help keep the calendar pretty accurate, 184 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 1: meaning that we will have a discrepancy of less than 185 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: a day for several thousand years. It is still not perfect. 186 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: The calculations used for this actually differ from the solar 187 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 1: year by twenty six seconds, so it's pretty good, but 188 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:27,000 Speaker 1: it was intended to keep us less than a day 189 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: off for an estimated twenty thousand years, and in reality 190 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: we're going to be about a day off by the 191 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:36,920 Speaker 1: year nine. I feel like I've heard about we're doing 192 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: a leap second try to account for that, yes, exactly. So. 193 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:46,560 Speaker 1: The Gregorian calendar was adopted in pretty much any place 194 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 1: that the Catholic Church was in power in fifty two, 195 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: and it took a while for it to become standard 196 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:55,440 Speaker 1: throughout most of the world, and for a lot of 197 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:58,600 Speaker 1: purposes that pretty much is. It wasn't adopted in Great 198 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: Britain and its colonies until seventeen fifty two. Sweden instituted 199 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: it the year after that. Japan switched to the Gregorian 200 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:10,720 Speaker 1: calendar in eighteen seventy three. China started officially using it 201 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:15,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen twelve. Greece adopted it in nineteen twenty three. 202 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:20,560 Speaker 1: There's a duality of calendar used for Islamic countries, so 203 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 1: the Gregorian calendar is used for day to day life. 204 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: The Islamic calendar continues to be used for religious holidays. UM. 205 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:31,320 Speaker 1: I think the Hebrew calendar is official state calendar in Israel, Like, 206 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: there are still multiple calendars being used. Um. An interesting 207 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: point to note here is that even countries and cultures 208 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: that are not Christian now or in maybe have never 209 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 1: been predominantly Christians still used the Gregorian calendar, which is 210 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:49,720 Speaker 1: deeply associated with the Catholic Church, as a secular calendar. 211 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 1: It has become an international standard in a lot of contexts. Yeah, 212 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,120 Speaker 1: it's fascinating to me that countries that never had Christianity 213 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:00,719 Speaker 1: are like, yeah, we'll adopt that calendar. That that's the 214 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: secular calendar. Um. Coming up, we're going to dig into 215 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,880 Speaker 1: just how radical the French Republican calendar was. Get ready, 216 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 1: but before we get to that, we will pause for 217 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:23,560 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. Okay, we're not going to rehash the 218 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: French Revolution here. We have talked about it a lot 219 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,439 Speaker 1: over the years. That's because it's a really important event 220 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: in world history. But it's also really complex. It happened 221 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 1: over a number of phases, it has a great deal 222 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:37,320 Speaker 1: of complexity within those phases. All of that is outside 223 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 1: the scope of today's calendar talk. So here's the very 224 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: broad stroke version of what happened to get to the 225 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,400 Speaker 1: point where there was an idea to completely throughout the 226 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: Gregorian calendar. By the end of the seventeen eighties, France 227 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,520 Speaker 1: was near bankruptcy due to the spending of the monarchy 228 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:56,840 Speaker 1: on extravagances and also giving money to support the American Revolution. 229 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:00,360 Speaker 1: There had been a lot of agricultural problems, including bad 230 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:03,640 Speaker 1: harvests and animal diseases that had left a lot of 231 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:07,160 Speaker 1: France's population destitute, and on top of that, the crown 232 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: was imposing heavy taxes to try to make up their 233 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:14,200 Speaker 1: financial deficits. The middle class, which had become the largest 234 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 1: component of the population. I read one statistic that it 235 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 1: was like, suddenly the middle class was percent of the population, 236 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: but it had less power than the nobility or the clergy. 237 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,920 Speaker 1: And all of this kind of made up the ingredients 238 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: that led to the start of the revolution. Even before 239 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: the revolution, going back to the mid seventeen eighties, there 240 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: had been calls for a new calendar to more closely 241 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: reflect the ideals of France's people. There had even been 242 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: some efforts in that regard, but each of them had 243 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: proved to cause problems, and it became apparent that a 244 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 1: complete system had to be devised. The Gregorian calendar, which 245 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:55,560 Speaker 1: featured Saints Days and was highly oriented to meet the 246 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: needs and ideals of the church, felt outdated at a 247 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:02,200 Speaker 1: time when rash realism was becoming more and more popular 248 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: and the ideals of the Enlightenment were supplanting the so 249 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: called ancient regime in which the church and the monarchy 250 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:12,520 Speaker 1: was were just so so closely bound together. In the 251 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,520 Speaker 1: months following the founding of the First Republic of France, 252 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: talk of a new calendar turned to action when Jebel 253 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 1: Rome was chosen to head up this project. Rum was 254 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: president of the Committee on Public Instruction in the First 255 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: Republic and he did a lot of other jobs as well, 256 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: but he was also pretty well suited to this job 257 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,320 Speaker 1: of calendar revision because he had also studied to be 258 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: a mathematician, and he got two other mathematicians to assist 259 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: gas Barmane and Joseph Louis Lagrange, and they all worked 260 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,240 Speaker 1: out the details of balancing a new system to combine 261 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:52,480 Speaker 1: the lunar and solar cycles, and to decimalize the system. Later, 262 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:55,480 Speaker 1: a poet was also brought onto the project, Fabre de 263 00:15:55,560 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 1: Glantine to name everything. This calendar was intended to be disruptive, 264 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:08,240 Speaker 1: and that cracks me up. We're gonna make a mess 265 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: on purpose. It was meant to completely upend the social order, 266 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:16,320 Speaker 1: to represent secularism, naturalism, and rationalism. There would be no 267 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:21,000 Speaker 1: religious holidays, no royalist mentions, nothing to follow the old 268 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 1: ways of the ancient regime. Additionally, the metrics system, which 269 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:28,120 Speaker 1: had been developed in the late seventeenth century and had 270 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: been going through a series of refinements ever since then, 271 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 1: would be at the heart of this, with as many 272 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 1: aspects as possible of the calendar built on a base 273 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: ten system. This use of a decimal system was in 274 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 1: part to bolster the calendar's identity being rational and scientific system, 275 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: not one that was built based on religious beliefs. I'll 276 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: note that like generally based ten numbers are I think 277 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:59,040 Speaker 1: older than that, but we're talking about a decimal system 278 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: where every thing is is divided into uh decrements of 279 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:07,919 Speaker 1: ten so that they're easy to calculate and remember. But 280 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,160 Speaker 1: then they made it really hard. This new calendar still 281 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 1: did have twelve months, although they did not correlate to 282 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: the existing Gregorian months at all. It was not as 283 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: though they renamed December, for example, to something else. There 284 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:25,240 Speaker 1: was really no possible way to make a one to 285 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:28,480 Speaker 1: one comparison or translation directly from one to the other 286 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:30,440 Speaker 1: so that you could quickly do it in your head 287 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:34,040 Speaker 1: and remember, oh, now December is called this. The twelve 288 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,960 Speaker 1: months in the Revolutionary calendar had names that referred to 289 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:40,199 Speaker 1: nature and natural happenings in the world at times that 290 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:44,520 Speaker 1: the months fell. So vonn Damier was the month of vintage, 291 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:46,520 Speaker 1: a new year and a time to look back on 292 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,040 Speaker 1: the old, and it also referred to the grape harvest. 293 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 1: Bremier was the month of fog, which fell in late autumn. 294 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 1: Fremier referenced dropping temperatures in the start of wintry weather. Neveaus, 295 00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: which followed was the month of snow. Pluvio's, the month 296 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: of rain, came after that, followed by vant Do's, the 297 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:09,480 Speaker 1: month of wind. Geminal in the springtime has of course 298 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:12,639 Speaker 1: the same route as the word German. Eight flo Real, 299 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: which followed references flowers prairieal was the month of meadows. 300 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: Messidor took its name from the Latin messy for harvest 301 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 1: to be cleared. This was an early summer harvest, not 302 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: I think when we say harvest we tend to always 303 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,679 Speaker 1: think of autumn. That was not the case. Dermador that 304 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: followed was the month of warmth, referencing the warm temperatures 305 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:35,159 Speaker 1: of summer, and fruc diador referenced the fruits which were 306 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 1: ripened in the late summer sun. New Year's Day was 307 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:43,640 Speaker 1: moved away from the Gregorian January one. The Revolutionary calendar 308 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,159 Speaker 1: started on what correlated to the start of Vandomier, on 309 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: September no coincidence, The first Republic of France was established 310 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:58,359 Speaker 1: on September two, so the calendar tied its start to 311 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:01,480 Speaker 1: a rebirth for the country, a sort of an anchoring principle. 312 00:19:02,359 --> 00:19:06,520 Speaker 1: These months were only three weeks long, because weeks we're 313 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:11,200 Speaker 1: ten days long. Each day was ten hours, each hour 314 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,760 Speaker 1: was one hundred minutes, and each minute was one hundred seconds. 315 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: That meant that while the hours and minutes were considerably 316 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: longer than they had previously been. The second was suddenly 317 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: about fo shorter. You can imagine the panic that this 318 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: cost himong clockmakers who had been working with an established 319 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:32,280 Speaker 1: set of gear proportions for as long as they could remember, 320 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:36,639 Speaker 1: and suddenly none of that was gonna work anymore. I 321 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:40,200 Speaker 1: think I would just quit and wander into the countryside, 322 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:43,239 Speaker 1: leaving my tools behind me. I think I would do 323 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:45,879 Speaker 1: there's a fire in the distance as you walk away, 324 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 1: like that's the end of that. The ten days of 325 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:54,720 Speaker 1: the week were named simply for their numerical order. No 326 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 1: more would the days we named for gods or have 327 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:01,640 Speaker 1: any sort of religious condination. So became primedy, the first 328 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:08,920 Speaker 1: day duoti or second day treaty, third day cartdy, keen, tody, sextity, septidy, 329 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 1: octod e, nonity, and decady if you're wondering. This was 330 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 1: in part, very specifically to make it confusing to people 331 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:20,280 Speaker 1: who attended church, so that they couldn't really remember what 332 00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:23,000 Speaker 1: day they were supposed to be going, because this would 333 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 1: not be the same week to week, since the church 334 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:30,119 Speaker 1: still retained the old calendar and observed Sunday as the 335 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:34,240 Speaker 1: main day for church services. You have a whole bit 336 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,639 Speaker 1: of your belief built around the idea of on the 337 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:40,919 Speaker 1: seventh day he rested, and now the week has ten days. 338 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:48,960 Speaker 1: You're you're you're doomed. Yes, so Fabrideglantine, a poet who 339 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: headed up naming for all of the new aspects of 340 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,520 Speaker 1: the calendar, wrote of this whole effort quote, the priests 341 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 1: assigned the commemoration of a so called saint to each 342 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:02,399 Speaker 1: day of the year. This catalog exhibited neither utility nor method. 343 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:04,840 Speaker 1: It was a collection of lies of a seat or 344 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:08,440 Speaker 1: of Charlotte Nisum. We thought that the nation, after having 345 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:12,080 Speaker 1: kicked out this canonized mob from its calendar, must replace 346 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,960 Speaker 1: it with the objects that made up the true riches 347 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,359 Speaker 1: of the nation. Were the objects not from a cult, 348 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:24,000 Speaker 1: but from agriculture. So every single day on the calendar 349 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,840 Speaker 1: had its own name. So while there were days of 350 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,359 Speaker 1: the week that Tracy had just read out, if you 351 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 1: knew the whole system, you could just say selex, the 352 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,359 Speaker 1: French word for flint, and you would know that that 353 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:40,160 Speaker 1: was the sixteenth day of the month. Nivos. This episode 354 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,679 Speaker 1: is scheduled to come out on December nine two. In 355 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:47,680 Speaker 1: the Revolutionary Calendar, December nineteenth would be olive or if 356 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:51,119 Speaker 1: you wanted to include the month, olive rime or o 357 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: leave de frimo. Each day name was a reference to nature. 358 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 1: The day names were themed to their month, the months 359 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: were themed to their season, and all of the months 360 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:04,280 Speaker 1: in each season were designed to rhyme with one another, 361 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: so like the sort of springtime e season was germana 362 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:13,640 Speaker 1: florial preial. Once the system was designed, it was officially 363 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: adopted in the autumn of seventeen nine three as the 364 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 1: Decree of the National Convention of October five, sevent This 365 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:24,919 Speaker 1: decree laid out the rules of adoption and function of 366 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:27,880 Speaker 1: the new calendar and read quote. The beginning of each 367 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: year is set at midnight, beginning on the day when 368 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: the true autumnal equinox falls. For the Paris Observatory, the 369 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:39,000 Speaker 1: first year of the French Republic began at midnight September 370 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: seventeen nine two and ended at midnight separating September twenty 371 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:48,920 Speaker 1: one from September seventeen nine three. The year is divided 372 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: into twelve equal months of thirty days each, after which 373 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,400 Speaker 1: followed five days to complete the ordinary year, and which 374 00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:01,160 Speaker 1: do not belong to any months they are called complementary day. 375 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: Each month is divided into three equal parts of ten 376 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:08,280 Speaker 1: days each, which are called decades in memory of the revolution, 377 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: which after four years led France to the republican government. 378 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:16,680 Speaker 1: The leap period of four years is called la franciad. 379 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 1: The inter calorie day, which must end this period is 380 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,199 Speaker 1: called the day of the Revolution. This day is placed 381 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:29,520 Speaker 1: after the five complementary days. Incidentally, in case the word 382 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,600 Speaker 1: decade jumped out at you, it literally means the ten 383 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 1: day week, not ten years, as we refer to a decade. 384 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 1: Uh that last bit though, mentioning the inter calorie day, 385 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:43,400 Speaker 1: that's normally what you would call a day or a month, 386 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:46,480 Speaker 1: inserted into a calendar to make the solar year work 387 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:50,119 Speaker 1: and correct those discrepancies that pop up. That's an error 388 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:54,520 Speaker 1: or miraccurlately, that cannot exist in function at the same 389 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:57,880 Speaker 1: time as their leap rule of la franciade that comes 390 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: right before it. This us to do with those holidays 391 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: that made up that gap created by only having thirty 392 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:08,439 Speaker 1: day months. There were five such holidays that fell at 393 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 1: the end of the year. Instead of being religious in nature, 394 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 1: they were all based on the ideals and the virtues 395 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,960 Speaker 1: of the New Republic, La Fete de la Virtue, which 396 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: was the celebration of Virtue, La Fete de geni, the 397 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 1: celebration of talent, la Fete trav this celebration of labor, 398 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:34,280 Speaker 1: La Fete de la Celebration of convictions. I hate that day, 399 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:36,920 Speaker 1: uh I just I feel like that is when everybody 400 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:38,720 Speaker 1: is going to come tell me what they think of something, 401 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 1: and I'm like, stop, stop doing it. And La Fete 402 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:46,600 Speaker 1: de recompose, or the celebration of Honors. In leap years, 403 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 1: there would be a sixth holiday Lael Revolution, the celebration 404 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:54,359 Speaker 1: of the Revolution. But there wasn't a leap year every 405 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 1: four years, as the provision had made it sound. The 406 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: leap years were to be calculated by astronomers on an 407 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,639 Speaker 1: as needed basis to insert the year started on the 408 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 1: autumnal equinox. So messed up, you guys. Stop, that's that's 409 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: my friend. Laignon Um the French Republican calendar. Incidentally, that 410 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 1: problem didn't ever come up because the calendar was abolished 411 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:27,160 Speaker 1: before the problem really made itself happen. Um the French 412 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 1: Republican calendar was put into practice on what would have 413 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:35,199 Speaker 1: been Nove The Gregorian calendar, and it was kind of 414 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:40,240 Speaker 1: backdated to have recognized September twenty two as its official start, 415 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:43,960 Speaker 1: so like that was point zero and then the years 416 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,280 Speaker 1: were counted up from there. While the ideals that led 417 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:50,479 Speaker 1: to adoption of the French Republican calendar were shared by 418 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,560 Speaker 1: a lot of the people of France, actually living with 419 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,960 Speaker 1: this new system was problematic and just about every way 420 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,400 Speaker 1: you can imagine. So we already mentioned the clockmaker having 421 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:03,680 Speaker 1: to overhaul their work, but that was really just the beginning. 422 00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:07,600 Speaker 1: Of course. Since this system was only employed by France 423 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 1: at a time when there was an established global trade, 424 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,440 Speaker 1: there was a constant stream of problems for anybody trying 425 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:18,280 Speaker 1: to do business outside of France, and I just there's 426 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 1: similar challenges today for places that like in some way 427 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:26,160 Speaker 1: have another calendar going on. So not only was there 428 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,280 Speaker 1: no direct correlation between months and weeks, but even leap 429 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,960 Speaker 1: years were handled differently in the Revolutionary calendar, so the 430 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:39,240 Speaker 1: conversion of dates uh that anybody using the Gregorian calendar had. 431 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:43,320 Speaker 1: This was just a constant dance of shifting and reconciling 432 00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: the days. Official documents were marked with the French Republican date, 433 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:50,680 Speaker 1: but if you had to do business elsewhere those dates 434 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,120 Speaker 1: really just meant nothing, so business people found themselves just 435 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 1: duplicating their work to try to stay and stuff with 436 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: their colleagues from other nations. This also meant that things 437 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,080 Speaker 1: like money cycles, so when people got paid and when 438 00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:08,640 Speaker 1: their payments were expected to others shifted around. So if 439 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:10,760 Speaker 1: you have ever been in a situation where you go, 440 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,640 Speaker 1: for example, from being paid every other week to one 441 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,320 Speaker 1: where you get paid twice a month or even monthly, 442 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,640 Speaker 1: you know that can be a difficult adjustment, and it 443 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,399 Speaker 1: was for the French as well. Pay days aside, those 444 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:26,160 Speaker 1: ten day weeks meant that there were only three rest 445 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:29,640 Speaker 1: days a month and a much longer work week that 446 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:33,840 Speaker 1: was obviously not popular. Although the fifth day was declared 447 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:37,679 Speaker 1: a half day, the schedule is still really grueling, and 448 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: for laborers who, as we mentioned earlier, wanted to continue 449 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,159 Speaker 1: to attend church, even if they could figure out what 450 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,919 Speaker 1: day they were supposed to go, they probably would not 451 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:48,960 Speaker 1: have that day off as they would have in a 452 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,880 Speaker 1: seven day week. Because of that particular problem, a lot 453 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: of people switched back to the seven day week unofficially 454 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 1: a few years into the new calendar's use. To top 455 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:03,040 Speaker 1: off follow these logistical issues. It was just a lot 456 00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:06,399 Speaker 1: of new stuff to learn, and a lot of people 457 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:10,399 Speaker 1: found it kind of absurd and ludicrous. All of the 458 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:13,399 Speaker 1: days being named for plants and animals and herbs and 459 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:16,120 Speaker 1: things like that might have seemed poetic, but it made 460 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:20,240 Speaker 1: for some problems with associations. While the day of Citria 461 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: meaning pumpkin was a rather charming day of the year 462 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,719 Speaker 1: that fell in the month of vandomier, imagine if your 463 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:30,560 Speaker 1: birthday or some other important personal event fell on a 464 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:34,919 Speaker 1: day that was more like fumier nevos or manure day. 465 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:42,080 Speaker 1: Uh US politician John Quincy Adams called the Revolutionary calendar 466 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: coarsely vulgar and superficially frivolous. Once it was put into practice, 467 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:51,240 Speaker 1: a lot of French citizens kind of started to feel 468 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 1: the same way. Right, can you imagine what day was 469 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: your baby born? Manure day? I would stick literally think 470 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: you're to um As power shifted in France after the 471 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: Revolution or there was still more revolution to come, so 472 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 1: too did appreciation for this rather behemoth project. After Maximilian 473 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 1: Robespierre was overthrown on the date of ninth Thermidor that 474 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:23,720 Speaker 1: was July, the reactionaries who had unseated him began a 475 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: pretty vocal campaign against the French Republican calendar for all 476 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:31,120 Speaker 1: of the reasons that we have mentioned here. Also, having 477 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: made such huge, sweeping changes to the basic structure of 478 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:38,800 Speaker 1: people's lives was characterized as having been a tyrannical move 479 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,760 Speaker 1: on the part of the Jacobin government. But there was 480 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: also concern among new government officials that changing all of 481 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: this again was just going to cause more disruption just 482 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:50,800 Speaker 1: as people were getting the hang of it, and that 483 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:53,040 Speaker 1: it would set the precedent that they would roll back 484 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 1: some of their other truly beneficial changes that had come 485 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:58,800 Speaker 1: from the revolution and the founding of the New Republic. 486 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: So this cal under stayed in place for more than 487 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 1: a decade. Sort of. No one really liked the new 488 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:11,080 Speaker 1: calendar all that much. In practice, adopting new festivals and 489 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 1: holidays and giving up the ones that had been in 490 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,800 Speaker 1: place for centuries was something that just never really caught on. 491 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,640 Speaker 1: People may have wanted new leadership for France, but they 492 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: also wanted their traditional holidays and feast days. By the 493 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 1: time the year eight of the new calendar rolled around, 494 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: the years were always written in Roman numerals, which I 495 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,480 Speaker 1: did not read. As v I I I, but I 496 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,600 Speaker 1: could have uh. The new festivals were no longer being held, 497 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 1: but the calendar itself was holding on. It was finally 498 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:45,200 Speaker 1: when Napoleon Bonaparte came to power that as first Consul 499 00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:48,720 Speaker 1: before he became emperor, he and the Catholic Church reached 500 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 1: the agreement known as the Concordat of eighteen o one. 501 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:56,200 Speaker 1: This re established the status of the Catholic Church in France, 502 00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:59,600 Speaker 1: although not as the country's official religion as it had 503 00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 1: been in years before. The Concordat of eighteen o one 504 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:06,320 Speaker 1: also did away with the ten day week and let 505 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,240 Speaker 1: people go back to officially using the old days of 506 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:13,240 Speaker 1: the week names, so welcome back Lunday through Demone. But 507 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:15,960 Speaker 1: the months in the years of the French Republican calendar 508 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:20,760 Speaker 1: remained for almost five more years. Finally, on January one, 509 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: eighteen o six, Napoleon, who had in the interim declared 510 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:29,479 Speaker 1: himself emperor, reinstated the Gregorian calendar in its entirety, and 511 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:32,320 Speaker 1: France was back to the same time keeping in calendar 512 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:36,520 Speaker 1: as most of its neighbors. Professor Howard C. Warren of 513 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:42,080 Speaker 1: Princeton University wrote a paper called Psychological Aspects of calendar reform, 514 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:46,520 Speaker 1: which appeared in the Scientific Monthly in n He wrote 515 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,959 Speaker 1: about the real issue of adoption of new modes of marking, 516 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,680 Speaker 1: the passage of time quote, and the efforts made to 517 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:58,040 Speaker 1: reform our lopsided calendar. Too little consideration has been given 518 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: to the principles of psychology. The popular mind clings to 519 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: tradition and the fundamentals of life, as shown in our 520 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:09,240 Speaker 1: persistent cleaving to our bewildering system of weights and measures, 521 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:14,280 Speaker 1: and the British adherence to their inconvenient monetary system. It 522 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,800 Speaker 1: often requires a social cataclysm like the French Revolution to 523 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:22,840 Speaker 1: uproot these traditions. Clearly that these traditions did not stay 524 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,920 Speaker 1: uprooted in France, and this effort to sort of fell 525 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:31,959 Speaker 1: into history as an interesting and weird experiment. The Revolutionary 526 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,440 Speaker 1: calendar was also dubbed quote the most radical attempt in 527 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:39,720 Speaker 1: modern history to challenge the Western standard temporal reference framework. 528 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:43,959 Speaker 1: It was called that by sociologist Viatar Zarubavel in nineteen 529 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:47,720 Speaker 1: seventy two. Zarubavel went on to write quote, one of 530 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:51,680 Speaker 1: the most remarkable accomplishments of the calendar reformers was exposing 531 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: people to the naked truth that their traditional calendar, whose 532 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: absolute validity they had probably taken for granted, was a 533 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 1: mere so show artifact and by no means unalterable. However, 534 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,720 Speaker 1: the reformers must have realized the possible boomerang effects of that, 535 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:12,200 Speaker 1: since it was impossible to expose the conventionality and artificiality 536 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:16,960 Speaker 1: of the traditional calendar without exposing those of any other calendar, 537 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,480 Speaker 1: including the new one. At the same time, one could 538 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:23,280 Speaker 1: not help realizing, for example, that if the seven day 539 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:26,200 Speaker 1: week did not derive from the heavens and was merely 540 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,920 Speaker 1: an arbitrarily imposed convention, so was the ten Da de 541 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: cod The new calendar could not be viewed as absolutely 542 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,400 Speaker 1: valid since its users witnessed its birth and knew that 543 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,760 Speaker 1: things used to be different in the past. One last 544 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,160 Speaker 1: thing to note, e O one was not the very 545 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:46,959 Speaker 1: last of the French Republican calendar. During the Paris Commune, 546 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:50,600 Speaker 1: the revolutionary government that sees power in France from March 547 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:56,360 Speaker 1: eighteenth to May eighteen seventy one, Commune reinstated this controversial calendar, 548 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,080 Speaker 1: and that government only lasted for two months one you 549 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 1: can three days. It was not recognized by everyone by 550 00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:06,480 Speaker 1: any stretch, so at that point the calendar did not 551 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:10,000 Speaker 1: cause the kind of disruption that it had caused almost 552 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,240 Speaker 1: a century earlier. There was plenty of other disruption happening 553 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:17,440 Speaker 1: during the calendar of the problems, right the calendars. Kind 554 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:23,600 Speaker 1: of a side note, Um yeah, I legitimately loved this story. 555 00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:31,320 Speaker 1: It's so um kukie. It's the kindest way I um. 556 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:33,160 Speaker 1: I think we may have said that's in the last 557 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:36,840 Speaker 1: episode where this came up briefly in the Robertan episode, 558 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:39,440 Speaker 1: but like I didn't, I didn't realize the extent to 559 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:43,600 Speaker 1: which this was a different calendar, completely different. And I 560 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:45,120 Speaker 1: know there are a lot of people in a lot 561 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:48,480 Speaker 1: of places around the world who historically or even more 562 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:51,160 Speaker 1: recently have like had to move to a different calendar, 563 00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:53,759 Speaker 1: and how chaotic that must have been. But this was 564 00:34:54,640 --> 00:35:02,160 Speaker 1: very extra chaotic and on purpose. Yes, yeah, I mean, 565 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:05,360 Speaker 1: I um. There's part of me that admires the effort 566 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:08,840 Speaker 1: right of going Like, as I've often say, I love change. 567 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:11,480 Speaker 1: I find it very exhilarating. So like the idea of going, 568 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: we're wiping the slate clean, We're going to start with 569 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,040 Speaker 1: this totally new system. There's part of my brain that 570 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,080 Speaker 1: lights up at that. But then when I think about 571 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:20,880 Speaker 1: the logistics of like how do I know when to 572 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:25,239 Speaker 1: board my flight? Okay, I would I would be terrified. Then, 573 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:29,080 Speaker 1: so we'll talk more about all of this terrifying madness 574 00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:33,120 Speaker 1: on Friday. You have some listener mail for us before then. 575 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:37,680 Speaker 1: I do. I have a few pieces because two of 576 00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: them are very short and uh so there are three altogether, 577 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,840 Speaker 1: but they're mostly very funny um verses from our listener Emily, 578 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:47,680 Speaker 1: who writes Hello, I'm a longtime listener and fan of 579 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:49,640 Speaker 1: the podcast, and I'm getting caught up after a few 580 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:53,280 Speaker 1: weeks of being beyond busy with a new job. Congratulations Emily. 581 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,440 Speaker 1: I just listened to the wig Aboard episodes and Holly's 582 00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:58,600 Speaker 1: comment about a Weegi board for cats in the behind 583 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:01,080 Speaker 1: the scenes episode reminded me of one of my favorite 584 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,000 Speaker 1: silly Internet things I have come across. It is the 585 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,480 Speaker 1: post board. This is a Wigia board for possums. The 586 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:10,560 Speaker 1: options are hilarious. All of the letters of the letter A, 587 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:15,480 Speaker 1: so it's just lots of screaming. Of the words on 588 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:20,640 Speaker 1: it are faint or scream and the little plan chet 589 00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,840 Speaker 1: has tiny little possum handprints on it. It's very very cute. 590 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:27,160 Speaker 1: Thank you. That was a delight and made me giggle. Um. 591 00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:32,600 Speaker 1: The more meaty email comes from our listener, Aaron, who 592 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:35,160 Speaker 1: writes Hi, Ladies. Longtime listener, but this was the first 593 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 1: time I heard something worth writing to you about. I 594 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: love listening to the podcast on my commute to and 595 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:43,200 Speaker 1: from my job as an occupational therapist in a rehab hospital. 596 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,400 Speaker 1: Thank you for doing that work. It's important. I am 597 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:48,799 Speaker 1: also playing catch up on some recent episodes and had 598 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:50,640 Speaker 1: to do a double take when I heard you mentioned 599 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:53,640 Speaker 1: Russell Sage in the recent two parter on Charles Chapin. 600 00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:56,759 Speaker 1: I am an alumna of Russell Sage College in Troy, 601 00:36:56,840 --> 00:36:59,680 Speaker 1: New York. Yes, named after the man himself, and loved 602 00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:02,440 Speaker 1: hearing a little bit more about our namesake. The folklore 603 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,440 Speaker 1: on campus was always that Mr. Sage was not fond 604 00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,360 Speaker 1: of the idea of women's education, and so when he died, 605 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,200 Speaker 1: his wife, Margaret Olivia Slocum Stage, supposedly used the money 606 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:15,200 Speaker 1: he left her to found a woman's college out of 607 00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:17,920 Speaker 1: spite in nineteen sixteen. I'm not sure if that was 608 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:19,960 Speaker 1: truly the case, but it's always been a fun story 609 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,120 Speaker 1: to tell prospective students and their families while giving tours 610 00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: around campus. While there is no statue of Russell on campus, 611 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:29,879 Speaker 1: his wife does have a statue on the campus green, 612 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,040 Speaker 1: and the bookstore is named Moss after her. Despite her 613 00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:36,080 Speaker 1: stipulation that nothing be named in her honor, It's been 614 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:39,360 Speaker 1: a tradition to sit in her lap after important campus events. 615 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:42,000 Speaker 1: And I've included a picture my friends took of Margaret 616 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,480 Speaker 1: and I hanging out after our five year class reunion 617 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:48,640 Speaker 1: in I've also included the requisite pet tax picture of 618 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:52,120 Speaker 1: my terrier Dalmatian mixed Deed, who may be small in size, 619 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:56,720 Speaker 1: but his very large opinions keep up their great work. Um, 620 00:37:56,760 --> 00:37:58,960 Speaker 1: this is hilarious and I love it. I love that 621 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,399 Speaker 1: we have this picture of UM sitting in the lap 622 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:04,240 Speaker 1: of a statue. I know some people would probably find 623 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:09,919 Speaker 1: sitting on statues to be inappropriate. I love it, Um, 624 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:15,440 Speaker 1: and Deed is so stink and cute. I have a 625 00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:19,000 Speaker 1: little dog crush. Here's the other thing. Our listener, Heather 626 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:22,200 Speaker 1: wrote us with just a couple of suggestions, but Heather 627 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:27,520 Speaker 1: also included pets in costumes because her puppies, Cooper Bailey 628 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,719 Speaker 1: and Theo dress this characters from the Wizard of Oz 629 00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:35,600 Speaker 1: and it's amazing, so good they are so so cute. 630 00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:38,360 Speaker 1: So they are the Lion, the Tinman, and the Scarecrow. 631 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:41,000 Speaker 1: We have gotten some other good pet costume pictures and 632 00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:42,359 Speaker 1: I hope I will be able to give them all 633 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:44,600 Speaker 1: shout outs. If I don't, please know they made me 634 00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:48,200 Speaker 1: delighted just the same. If you would like to write 635 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:50,480 Speaker 1: to us, you can do so at History Podcast at 636 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:52,839 Speaker 1: i heeart radio dot com. You can also find us 637 00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:55,799 Speaker 1: on social media as Missed in History, and you can 638 00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:58,360 Speaker 1: subscribe in the I heart Radio app or wherever it 639 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:05,920 Speaker 1: is you listen to your favorite podcast guests. Stuff you 640 00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:08,640 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class is a production of I Heart Radio. 641 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I 642 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,840 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 643 00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:19,560 Speaker 1: your favorite shows. H