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It is practically certain that the calendar will be simplified by the International Conference of Government Delegates which the League of Nations will invite either during this year, or not later than the Spring of next year, says the International Fixed Calendar League in a statement which it has issued here in which the idea of a “Zero” day, or a full day between Saturday and Sunday, at the year-end, is referred to, an idea which the Jewish organizations regard as endangering the fixity of the Jewish Sabbath.
Because of the basic yearly calculations for not only the Gregorian but nearly all other great calendars are computed by astronomers in the Nautical Almanac Office at Greenwich, the statement continues, the following quotation from their official letter is of special interest, because it proves that the proposal to make New Year’s Day a “Zero-day” without a week-day name or monthly date, is futile and should be ignored, to facilitate the simplification now being achieved by the League of Nations, to benefit all humanity:
“In regard to the proposed Calendar Reform, the two essential requirements from our point of view as astronomers and compilers of astronomical ephemerides are: (1) The beginning of the year (Jan. 1) must not be changed. (2) Any extra day, such as the proposed “Year-day” must be put at the end of the year, not at the beginning. The placing of a day at the beginning, with the designation Day “0” would be most confusing. Day “0” has already a widely accepted conventional usage among astronomers, and denotes the last day of the preceding month, e. g. April 0-March 31, and January 0-December 31 of the previous year. In any calendar reform it is important that this convention should not be disturbed.
“January “0.” Evidence gathered by the League of Nations proves that the proposal to have New Year’s Day calendared apart from the week as Jan. “0” will never be accepted by the International Conference. Therefore it is all the more certain that the last day in every year from 1933 will, by International Treaty, be made “Year-Day” as an extra Rest-Day ending the last week as its 8th day for Year-end festivities, completing accounts, making inventories, and helpful resolutions, etc. This will be “Hogmanay” for Scotsmen to go the whole hog on that full day between Saturday and Sunday.
“Not on Monday. The suggestion made by inadequately informed writers, that New Year’s Day should be a Monday, will not be adopted, because it would move Easter and Whitsuntide (Pentecost) from their most convenient dates, and by fixing Christmas Day on Tuesday would deprive most peo-
“It will always be on Sunday, because that will keep Easter. Whitsentide, Chrismas, etc, to their truest and most convenient dates, while also beginning the year, the months and the week together, (as the most simple and scientific calendar should) from Sunday the 1st day of the Years 1933.
“As requirement (1) was endorsed by the League of Nations Committee, it is certain that January 1st will continue to date New Years’s Day. No advantage would be derived by changing it to the “Shorts Day,” (December 22nd) as some proposed.”
A Volume, “Your Teeth,” by Dr. (###)Active in Jewish and c(###)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
