Introduction
Here I am going to write what I think is required for a successful world-wide secular calendar and for calendar reform. I will also list my reviews of the various calendar reform attempts too. I also have a spread sheet with point based ratings of the various Calendar Reform attempts, which also includes a comparison to our current world-wide secular calendar which is the Gregorian Calendar (Wikipedia). I have also posted a bunch of information, history, and issues with the Gregorian Calendar in my 45-page blog page on the Calendar Reform, so if you want to get the skinny on our calendar then please read through that post. It is a page turner, let me tell ya.
ALERT!!! I have a definite bias!
Keep in mind, that I am very, very biased in thinking and talking about calendar reform due to my previous significant history (over 10 years of support of the International Fixed Calendar[ IFC] ) and my significant recent writing on the IFC, so, all of my judgments and critiques will be heavily biased because of that and, in many ways, my calendar reform writings will, in the end, be a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the specific reform attempt to the advantages of IFC. In other words, take my biased thoughts on this topic with that grain of salt for that is how all of my Calendar Reform thoughts are framed. =)
Note: I will NOT go into a great deal of detail in the individual posts with the issues, because I cover them quite well in my page on Calendar Reform (link posted above). If you want to know more about those issues beyond what I cover here you will want to check out that page.
Traits of a Successful Calendar Reform for the World
Ultimately, the traits for a successful calendar reform that will actually help the world and will significantly ease the lives of individuals and for businesses too. Making lives easier for the general populace is more important than making it easier for business, although if you make it easier for one, then you will make it easier for the other too.
There are a lot of different traits that the calendars of the world have:
- type: solar, lunar, lunisolar
- type: annual, perpetual
- number of days per calendar year
- number of days per month
- number of weeks per month
- number of days per quarter
- leap method
Of those, below I list the most important traits needed to create a calendar that creates the best and most efficient environment of use for all of humanity, but keep in mind that the calendar that I am talking about is the calendar meant to be used as the primary calendar source for all of humanity with other ethnic, cultural, and religious calendars to be used concurrently.
If you really want to understand the justification for these traits then please read my above post on Calendar Reform where I tear apart the Gregorian Calendar and all of its many flaws, explain and give examples as to why they are problematic, and then make the case for why the IFC is our salvation by fixing all of those issues.
| Solar | The calendar must track as close as possible to the solar year which is how our lives are really governed due to the seasons and biological processes. |
|---|---|
| Perpetual | A perpetual or perennial calendar is the same from year to year so you only need one calendar which also makes year to year planning and comparisons easy and allows us to fix dates which is important for ease of use and planning. |
| Equal Months | equal months (4 weeks of 28 days) has the following powerful benefits:
|
| Leap Day | Leap Days are needed to be used instead of Leap Weeks due to reduced offset, and solar drift, and ease in comparison and planning. I posted about why Leap Days are better here in my post: Calendar Reform: The Inferiority of Leap Weeks to Leap Days |
If a calendar has the above traits then we are probably pretty close to a decent solution, although currently there are very few calendars (2) that meet these requirements:
Reviews and Comparisons
If a calendar is not solar then I will not even look at it for this consideration. Most serious reform attempts are all typically based off our Gregorian Calendar which is a solar calendar.
If you are at all familiar with Calendar Reform and the various calendar proposals out there then you already know the bloodbath that is going to happen here based on the required traits I set forth above . =)
| solar | perpetual | equal months | leap day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gregorian | x | x | ||
| World Season Calendar | x | x | x | |
| World Calendar | x | x | x | |
| Henry-Henke Permanent Calendar | x | x | ||
| Pax Calendar | x | x | x | |
| International Fixed Calendar | x | x | x | x |
| Reformed Pax Calendar | x | x | x | |
| Reformed International Fixed Calendar | x | x | x | x |
The only 2 winners are that meet all of the requirements:
- International Fixed Calendar
- Reformed International Fixed Calendar
Here is a link to my: Calendar Reform Comparison Spreadsheet (Google Sheets) so you can see a number breakdown. With this spreadsheet you will see my bias showing too.
Here are links to information about the various above mentioned calendars:
12 Month Calendars
- Gregorian – Gregorian Calendar (Wikipedia), Calendar Reform (Arions Home)
- World Calendar – World Calendar (Wikipedia)
- Henry-Henke Permanent Calendar
13 Month Calendars
- International Fixed Calendar -Â Calendar Reform (Arions Home)
- Reformed International Fixed Calendar – A Reformed International Fixed Calendar (Arions Home)
- Pax Calendar –
- Reformed Pax Calendar –Â A Reformed Pax Calendar (Arions Home)
No Month Calendars
- World Season Calendar– World Season Calendar (Arions Home)
