As you know, two New Years are celebrated in Russia - one, as in the whole world, occurs on the night of December 31 to January 1, the second, "Old New Year" - occurs on the night of January 13 to January 14.
The story of the origin of the "Old New Year" is as follows: the revolutionary events of 1917 brought the Bolsheviks to power, a government called the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom) was created, and it issued a series of decrees.
Including, on January 26, 1918, a decree was issued to change the current calendar:
"Decree on the introduction of the Western European calendar in the Russian Republic":
"Decree on the introduction of the Western European calendar in the Russian Republic"
In order to establish in Russia the reckoning of time that is the same with almost all cultural peoples, the Council of People's Commissars decides to introduce a new calendar into civilian use after the end of January of this year. Because of this:
1) The first day after January 31 of this year is not considered February 1, but February 14, the second day is considered 15, etc.
2) The dates of all obligations, both under the contract and under the law, which would have occurred, according to the calendar still in force, between February 1 and 14, shall be considered to have occurred between February 14 and 27, by adding 13 days to each corresponding deadline …
10) Until July 1 of this year, write after the date of each day according to the new calendar in brackets the number according to the calendar that was still in force.
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).
Assistant Nar. Commiss. on Foreign Affairs Chicherin.
From this it followed that January 1, 1919, the New Year began in the new style, and January 14, 1919, was January 1 in the old style, i.e. "Old New Year".
Much later, in the second half of the 20th century, when the celebration of the New Year will enter its usual rut and become a good family tradition, “Old New Year” will be celebrated as an excuse to gather without fanfare with old friends, once again sit at a common table, completing the festive period …
Why did the Soviet government need to change the calendar, shift dates and exclude 13 days from 1918?
The official explanation, at first glance, looks quite logical - they switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian, following the whole of Europe. In the text of the Decree itself, as you can see, the words "Gregorian calendar" are not used, the term "Western European calendar" is used.
I was always satisfied with this explanation, until the very moment, until I carefully read the articles on the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in Western European countries. I noticed that the transition to the Gregorian calendar in most European countries took place long before the 20th century.
Let's see what the official history tells us about when European countries switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
In the 16th century (1582-1587) they switched to the Gregorian calendar:
Austrian lands: Brixen, Salzburg and Tyrol (October 5, 1583 was followed by October 16, 1583), Carinthia and Styria (December 14, 1583 was followed by December 25, 1583)
Czech lands Bohemia and Moravia (January 6, 1584 was followed by January 17, 1584)
Rome, Vatican, other Italian states (October 4, 1582 was followed by October 15, 1582)
Central Provinces of France (December 9, 1582 was followed by December 20, 1582)
Germanic lands, small principalities (Catholic) - various dates in 1583-1585
Kingdom of Hungary (21 October 1587 was followed by 1 November 1587)
Dutch provinces Zeeland, Brabant and the "States General" (December 14, 1582 was followed by December 25, 1582), Limburg and the southern provinces (now Belgium) (December 20, 1582 was followed by December 31, 1582)
Kingdom of Luxembourg (14 December 1582 was followed by 25 December 1582)
Poland (October 4, 1582 was followed by October 15, 1582)
Portugal (4 October 1582 was followed by 15 October 1582)
Spain (October 4, 1582 was followed by October 15, 1582)
Switzerland, cantons of Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Zug, Freiburg, Solothurn (January 11, 1584 was followed by January 22, 1584)
In the 17th century, they switched to the Gregorian calendar:
Prussia (22 August 1610 was followed by 2 September 1610)
Switzerland, canton Valais (28 February 1655 was followed by 11 March 1655)
French land of Alsace (5 February 1682 was followed by 16 February 1682)
Strasbourg (February 1682)
In the 18th century, they switched to the Gregorian calendar:
Denmark, including Norway (18 February 1700 was followed by 1 March 1700)
Germanic lands, Protestant states (February 18, 1700 was followed by March 1, 1700)
Dutch provinces: Groningen (December 31, 1700 followed by January 12, 1701), Gelderland (June 30, 1700 followed by July 12, 1700), Utrecht and Overüssel (November 30, 1700 followed by December 12, 1700), Friesland (December 31, 1700 followed by January 12 1701), Drent (30 April 1701 was followed by 12 May 1701)
Switzerland (Zurich, Bern, Basel, Geneva) (December 31, 1700 was followed by January 12, 1701)
Great Britain and the Dominions (2 September 1752 was followed by 14 September 1752)
Sweden, including Finland (February 17, 1753 was followed by March 1, 1753)
Duchy of Lorraine (16 February 1760 was followed by 28 February 1760)
Sweden 1687
Sweden 1687
In Sweden, the transition was very curious.
Sweden decided to gradually move from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar without introducing leap years from 1700 to 1740.
Thus, 11 extra days were to be eliminated, and on March 1, 1740, the transition to the Gregorian calendar was to be completed. (However, during this period, the calendar in Sweden would not coincide with any calendar!)
Thus, 1700 (which was a leap year in the Julian calendar) was not a leap year in Sweden. However, by mistake 1704 and 1708 became leap years. This resulted in a loss of synchronization with both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and it was decided to revert to the Julian calendar. For this, an extra day was added in 1712, and this year became a double leap year! Thus, in 1712 Sweden had 30 days in February.
Later, in 1753, Sweden switched to the Gregorian calendar, missing 11 days, like other countries.
In the 20th century, they switched to the Gregorian calendar:
Albania (December 1912),
Bulgaria (1916),
Russia (1918),
Estonia (1918),
Romania (1919),
Yugoslavia (1919),
Greece (1924),
Turkey (1927).
Well, reader, nothing has alerted you yet?
And I paid attention to two points:
Countries and lands switched to the Gregorian calendar in large groups in 2 historical periods from 1582 to 1587 (immediately after the announcement of the reform by Pope Gregory XIII) and in the period from 1700 to 1701. The question immediately arises: how business relations were built between neighboring countries in conditions when their dates were different for more than a hundred years? Or maybe everything was simpler - 1582 (i582) for Catholics was 1700 for Protestants (that is, there were 2 different chronological systems) and countries were switching to the new calendar at the same time?
In 1700, Tsar Peter Alekseevich carried out a calendar reform in Russia. After December 31, 7208 according to the calendar from the Creation of the World, there is January 1 according to the calendar from the Nativity of Christ. But, as historians tell us, this is the transition to the Julian calendar!
And what happens? All our Western European neighbors have switched or are switching to the Gregorian, and the reformer tsar, actively building trade, diplomatic and cultural ties with the countries of Western Europe, decisively changing the relationship of the secular authorities with the church, WHY switches to the morally outdated Julian calendar …
Maybe the point is that historians are misleading us? Maybe Peter the First introduced the Gregorian calendar in Russia in 1700?
Decree on the introduction of the Western European calendar in the Russian Republic
It is also logical to switch to a single calendar system with all Christian countries of Europe. Especially when you consider that Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey at that time were a single state - the Ottoman Porta (Turkey). The predominant religion in which is Mohammedanism (Islam). These territories are ruled by non-Christian rulers and they have no interest in switching to the calendar "from the birth of Christ".
And here a logical question arises:
If Russia began to live according to the Gregorian calendar in 1700, then how did the difference of 13 days arise, which was corrected only in 1918?
Maybe in Russia, as well as in Sweden, they hoped to pay off the difference in dates between the Julian and Gregorian calendars by excluding leap days for 40 years, but could not fulfill this within the intended period and in the end were forced to use the Julian the calendar?
Or, after the reform of Peter, there was a counter-reform of the calendar unknown to us, as a result of which there was a transition to the Julian calendar?
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