Date shifts [quite OT]

Fluks, H.W. H.W.Fluks at kpn.com
Wed Jan 30 16:18:21 CET 2002


Don Rosa wrote:

> But the fact is quite true that all of the dates that our 
> history books
> give for events that took place before the 16th to 20th centuries
> (depending on what country the event occurred in since not 
> all countries
> skipped dates at the same time) are inaccurate for up to 
> several weeks. The
> October Revolution in Russia (last country to update their calendar)
> actually took place in November!

I wonder which date can be considered "right", and if a date is an absolute
thing, or can be different locally. Time zones are different locally, for
instance.

If Russia's official calendar says it's October, but other countries say
it's November, did the revolution happen in October or November?

I'm sure the pope didn't change the past when he decided to skip 10 days.
But what about the protestants and orthodox? Did they re-define the calendar
since 14-something? Or did they just refer to past dates like they used to
do? (Which is the date  of independence of the USA, according to a Russian?)

This makes things even more complicated than conversion to the euro. I just
realise that a remembrance day in my city of birth (Groningen), celebrates
August 28, 1672. Groningen converted to Gregorian calendar in about 1710. So
what are we celebrating every year on August 28? Hm...

--Harry.



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