Almanac

a table or calendar of days, giving, together with the day of the week and month, such information as the time of the rising and setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, holidays, fast and feast days, and days to be observed by church and state. Calendars of some sort, called fasti, were in vogue among the Romans, and were posted later in the forum for the information of the public. English almanacs, consisting of a square wooden stick about eight inches long, notched along the edges to represent the days and months of the year,--three months on each edge,--were used in England as late as Cromwell's day. Each seventh day was notched deeply to represent the Sabbath. The first day of each month was designated by a broad notch. Saints' days and festivals were marked by colored figures, St. Valentine's day by a true lover's knot, etc. Manuscript almanacs of the twelfth century, one ascribed to Roger Bacon, are preserved in the British Museum and in the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge. Originally almanacs were intended for the guidance of the people in the performance of religious duties. From an early date they foretold eclipses and presaged weather, war, and pestilence, and were filled with superstitions and broad jokes.

In modern times a decided tendency to supply useful information and statistics may be noted. An almanac published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge set an excellent example in 1828, which has been followed very generally since. The Edinburgh, the British, and Whitaker's Almanac are well known abroad. The Almanach de Gotha, 1764, printed in French and German, gives details of the princely families of Europe, and various other details and statistics for each country in the world. A nautical almanac published two or three years in advance by the British government is invaluable to the navigator who requires a knowledge of tides and the positions of stars at certain hours, from which to take his reckoning at sea. A similar publication is issued by the United States bureau of navigation.

The first American almanac was published by Wm. Pierce of Cambridge in 1639. Poor Richard's Almanac, published by Benjamin Franklin at Philadelphia, is our most noted publication of the kind. Several prominent newspapers, as the New York World and the New York Tribune, publish almanacs containing a large amount of current and attractive information. The almanacs published for free distribution by makers of patent medicines are characteristic of American business sagacity. One Lowell firm is said to distribute 25,000,000 copies yearly.

In France during the Revolutionary period, the National Convention enacted in November of 1793 that the year should be divided into twelve months of thirty days each with five days of merry-making at the end of each year. The new calendar was dated back to September 22, 1792, the day on which the new republic took form. This calendar was followed for about eight years until abolished by order of Napoleon. The names of the months were as follows:

Among the odd suggestions may be mentioned that of August Compte, 1849, who proposed that the months bear the names of great men as Moses, Caesar, Shakespeare, and St. Paul; and further that each day of the year be known by the name of some noted person as well. Dates thus written would be Romulus, 1905, Socrates, 1872, or such a battle was fought on Plato, 1863.

See Calendar; Year; Month