Influenced by culture, religion, and astronomy, the evolution of calendars is a fascinating journey that dates back to ancient times and has developed into the sophisticated systems we use today.
By Mohan Kanda
Civilizations have relied on calendars to organize and measure time. Factors such as culture, religion, and astronomy have all influenced calendars throughout history, whose evolution has had an absorbing history, dating back to ancient civilizations and developing into today’s sophisticated systems.
In the beginning, calendars were lunar-based because moon phases were easy to measure. For instance, the Saptarshi calendar, referenced by Greek historians describing Maurya kings, originated in 6676 BCE according to Subhash Kak, an Indian-American computer scientist and historical revisionist. This calendar, reset in 6777 BCE, is still used by Kashmiri Pandits, with the current Hindu year known as Vikram Samvat 2082, which will run from March 29, 2025 to March 19, 2026.
In Sumerian culture, the year was divided into 12 months based on the lunar cycle. The Egyptians developed the Sothic calendar, which divided 365 days into 12 months of 30 days, with five or six extra “epagomenal” days at the year’s end. The Julian calendar, introduced by Roman King Julius Caesar in 46 BCE, marked January 1 as the year’s start. This reform, honoring Janus—the Roman God of Beginnings—established a calendar with 365.25 days, incorporating leap years. The Julian calendar remained accurate for over 1600 years.
Diverse New Year Tradition
The Islamic New Year, for example, starts on the first day of Muharram, which is the first month of the lunar Hijri calendar. For the Hindus, the first day of the Vaisakha month marks the traditional solar new year, in Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Odisha, Punjab Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other parts of India. And Baisakhi is the New Year’s day. However, this is not universal for all Hindu. The first day of the Shukla Paksha, or the fortnight in which the moon waxes, of the Chaithra, the first month of the Hindu calendar is also celebrated as ‘Ugadi’, or the New Year’s Day in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh states of India, with Ugadi meaning ‘Yuga Adi’, or the beginning, of a period similarly, ‘Gudi Padwa’ is celebrated as the New Year’s Day in Maharashtra state, with ‘Mithila Diwas’ being the New Year’s day in Bihar, ‘Vishu’ in Kerala and Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, ‘Pohela Boishakh’ in Bengal, ‘Navreh’ in Kashmir and Baisakhi in Punjab, celebrated during harvesting time and considered the biggest harvest festival in the state.
Outside India’s shores, we have the Japanese celebrating the New Year by the festival ‘Shogatsu’, with the New Year’s Day being called ‘Gantan’. The Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is China’s most important festival. Interestingly, the Chinese culture associates the 12 signs of the Chinese Zodiac, namely the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the sheep (or goat), the monkey, the rooster, the dog, and the pig, with the New Year. They repeat in 12-year cycles, with each year being associated with a different animal.
Each religion and culture has its own unique way of celebrating the arrival of the New Year. In the Telugu speaking states, there is the deeply meaningful, yet pleasant, tradition of imbibing, on Ugadi day, a chutney made of pieces of raw mango, tamarind, neem flower, sugar cane, and jaggery. The flavour or taste of each ingredient, sweetness, sourness, and bitterness, is intended to remind a person of the need to be prepared for events of all types to happen in the future.
