KINDS OF CALENDAR

 

KINDS OF CALENDAR

a caLendar is like a clock that tells you what time of year it is, instead of what time of day. All calendars have to allow for the fact that a year does not contain a whole number of days or lunar months. Early calendars tended to run fast or slow, because their year was shorter or longer than the actual time it takes for Earth to go around the Sun. LunisoLar caLendars These calendars were based on the lunar month, during which the Moon goes from new to full and back. This has no connection with the solar year, the time Earth takes to go exactly once around the Sun. So people using lunisolar calendars had to throw in an extra month every now and then to keep their months in step with the years. 

The egypTian caLendar The Egyptians ignored the Moon and used 12 months of exactly 30 days each, plus 5 days at the end of the year, which didn’t belong to any month. It was a simple method, but because this calendar gave a year of exactly 365 days, one-quarter of a day shorter than the true solar year, it gained 25 days in every 100 years.

This is an Aztec calendar stone. The Aztecs ruled most of Mexico in the 15th century. The calendar was based partly on a ritual cycle of 260 days.

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