Digital Sundials and ...

[Don B. Cilly]

April 21 is New Year 2773*, for pagans like me

* For those with limited historical knowledge, "Ab Urbe Condita" explains the date ;·)

[Snowhog]

Ab Urbe Condita (for those who don't use Google to find things out)

[SpecialEd]

So Pagans used the Roman Calendar?

[Don B. Cilly]

Some modern ones do.

[EDIT] Pardon the OT, but since I did... actually, I'm not that much of a pagan. My dad called himself a "Kantian Pagan" (referring to the Categorical Imperative). I call myself a "Mandelbrotian Pantheist".
Now, Mandelbrotian Pantheism obviously includes paganism (being pantheist ;·) but anyway, not being much of a Christian either, I'd rather count years from the (alleged) birth of Rome than from the (alleged) birth of Christ.
Just to say, really, if 20.04 is released on April 21st, I'd be glad. :·)

[jlittle]

Off topic rabbit hole...

While the 21st of April (as we call it) was indeed dies natalis, the notional date of the founding of Rome, the Romans mostly used the 1st of January (as we call it) as the New Year (from 153 BCE says WP) and this was formalized under the Julian calendar reform.

Also, at least in the West, "April 21" would not be meaningful for the Romans. If my reckoning is correct they called it a.d. XI Kal. Mai., abbreviated from ante diem undecimum Kalendas Maius, "the eleventh day before the kalends of May". This weird enumeration was adopted by the Christian church, and persisted in the Catholic church in Latin until at least 1970.

I imagine that pagans in modern times consider the winter solstice as the beginning or end of the year.

[jglen490]

Different strokes for different folks; different moves for different grooves

Every historic human culture has had a beginning and has found an end, only to be followed by something else. The only constants being the gift of life, and constancy of curiosity.

[chimak111]

The tentative release date is April 23, 2020.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FocalFossa/ReleaseSchedule

[Don B. Cilly]

I imagine that pagans in modern times consider the winter solstice as the beginning or end of the year.

We do
Me, I count years from the (alleged) birth of Rome just for fun, but the winter solstice is actually meaningful astronomically.
In the sense that it actually is the new year, whereas Jan. 1st in nothing.

Still, April 23rd, close enough, I can celebrate two days and make it a long weekend. :·)

[jglen490]

Winter solstice in which hemisphere?

[Don B. Cilly]

The one where Rome is* - and the vast majority of pagans.
If Aussies can celebrate Christmas in July, they can celebrate the winter solstice in June...

* The rest are just barbarians to us. The original meaning of "barbarian" being "anyone who's not Italian" ;·)

[claydoh]

The one where Rome is* - and the vast majority of pagans.
If Aussies can celebrate Christmas in July, they can celebrate the winter solstice in June...

* The rest are just barbarians to us. The original meaning of "barbarian" being "anyone who's not Italian" ;·)

Since when do Australians celebrate Christmas in July?


They do celebrate it in the summer, that is true. Just their summer happens December to February. Last time I was down there, it was 39.6 on January 17 (2019). I was in one of the cooler spots I think. This past summer, it hit 42.6 there. and on Xmas it was only 29.7.

For us heathen Imperial-unit-using 'Murricans, 39.6 is 103.3. I don't think that the .3 is all that important, though, lol.


I wonder what a calendar is appropriate for agnostics or atheists

[jlittle]

Winter solstice in which hemisphere?

Wiccans in the southern hemisphere celebrate the winter solstice in winter, in June, and the other festivals accordingly, f. ex. Beltane on the night of 31st October.

[jlittle]

Christmas in July?

That's usually just an excuse to have a traditional European Christmas roast dinner, with lots of trimmings, roaring fire, holly, steamed puddings and the like. Such a meal doesn't fit in summer, and many people are away on holiday.

[claydoh]

That's usually just an excuse to have a traditional European Christmas roast dinner, with lots of trimmings, roaring fire, holly, steamed puddings and the like. Such a meal doesn't fit in summer, and many people are away on holiday.

I need to ask the wife about this one
She is definitely into importing 'my' Thanksgiving turkey dinner, which of course I am betting I will get to cook (actually I like the idea ). An extra 'fancy' holiday meal in winter would be nice. Right around my birthday would be superbe
I do like the snow and winter and all that, though I am not sure how I will handle it being cold on by b-day once I move down under.

[jlittle]

... snow and winter ... being cold

IIUC, nowhere in Australia (where people actually live) has winter. Think southern California, but with much, much bigger deserts.

Maybe Tasmania? Melbourne can get cold and miserable, but sleet, not snow, and can be 100° F a few days later.