French Republican Calendar
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The French Republican Calendar or French Revolutionary Calendar is a calendar proposed during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about twelve years from late 1793.
It was designed by the politician and agronomist Charles Gilbert Romme, although it is usually attributed to Fabre d'Églantine, who invented the names of the months. The calendar was adopted by the Jacobin-controlled National Convention on 24 October 1793.
Years appear in writing as Roman numerals (usually), counted from the beginning of the 'Republican Era', 22 September 1792 (the day the French First Republic was proclaimed, one day after the Convention abolished the monarchy). As a result, Roman Numeral I indicates the first year of the republic, that is, the year before the calendar actually came into use. The first day of each year included the autumnal equinox. There were twelve months, each divided into three ten-day weeks called décades. The five or six extra days needed to approximate the tropical year were placed after the months at the end of each year. Each day was divided into ten hours, each hour into 100 decimal minutes and each decimal minute had 100 decimal seconds. Clocks were manufactured to display decimal time, but it did not catch on and was officially abandoned in 1795, although some cities continued to use decimal time as late as 1801.
A period of four years ending on a leap day was to be called a "Franciade".
Sunday or the Sabbath was reintroduced by the Concordat of 1801, effective Easter Sunday, 18 April 1802.
Napoléon finally abolished the calendar effective 1 January 1806 (the day after 10 nivôse an XIV), a little over twelve years after its introduction. However, it was used again during the brief Paris Commune in 1871 (year LXXIX).
Many conversion tables and programs exist, largely created by genealogists. Some enthusiasts in France still use the calendar, more out of historical re-enactment than practicality.
Some legal texts that were adopted when the Republican Calendar was official are still in force in France and have kept their original dates for citation purposes.
Criticism and shortcomings of the calendar
Leap years in the calendar are a point of great dispute, due to the contradicting statements requiring the year to start at the autumnal equinox while adding a leap day every 4 years (like the Julian calendar). The years III, VII, and XI were observed as leap years, and the years XV and XX were also planned as such.
A fixed arithmetic rule for determining leap years was proposed in the name of the Committee of Public Education by Gilbert Romme on 19 Floréal An III (8 May 1795). The proposed rule was to determine leap years by applying the rules of the Gregorian calendar to the years of the French Republic (years IV, VIII, XII, etc. were to be leap years) except that year 4000 (the last year of ten 400-year periods) should be a common year instead of a leap year. Because this proposal was never adopted, the original astronomical rule continued, which excluded any other fixed arithmetic rule. The proposal was intended to avoid uncertain future leap years caused by the inaccurate astronomical knowledge of the 1790s (even today, this statement is still valid due to the uncertainty in ΔT). In particular, the committee noted that the true equinox of year 144 was predicted to occur at "11:59:40 p.m.", which was closer to midnight than its inherent 3 to 4 minute uncertainty.
The calendar was abolished because having a ten-day work week gave workers less rest (one day off every ten instead of one day off every seven); because the equinox was a mobile date to start every new year (a fantastic source of confusion for almost everybody); and because it was incompatible with the secular rhythms of trade fairs and agricultural markets.
Perhaps the most famous date in this calendar was immortalised by Karl Marx in the title of his pamphlet, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoléon (1852). The 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799) is considered the end of the French Revolution. Another famous revolutionary date is 9 Thermidor, the date the Convention turned against Robespierre, who, along with others associated with the Mountain, was guillotined the following day. (See Glossary of the French Revolution for other significant dates under this calendar.)
Emile Zola's novel Germinal takes its name from the calendar, as does the dish, Lobster thermidor.
Months
The Republican calendar year began at the autumn equinox and had twelve months of 30 days each, which were given new names based on nature:
- Autumn:
- *Vendémiaire (from Latin vindemia, "vintage") Starting Sept 22, 23 or 24
- *Brumaire (from French brume, "mist") Starting Oct 22, 23 or 24
- *Frimaire (From French frimas, "frost") Starting Nov 21, 22 or 23
- Winter:
- *Nivôse (from Latin nivosus, "snowy") Starting Dec 21, 22 or 23
- *Pluviôse (from Latin pluviosus, "rainy") Starting Jan 20, 21 or 22
- *Ventôse (from Latin ventosus, "windy") Starting Feb 19, 20 or 21
- Spring:
- *Germinal (from Latin germen, "seed") Starting Mar 20 or 21
- *Floréal (from Latin flos, "flower") Starting Apr 20 or 21
- *Prairial (from French prairie, "meadow") Starting May 20 or 21
- Summer:
- *Messidor (from Latin messis, "harvest") Starting Jun 19 or 20
- *Thermidor (from Greek thermos, "hot") Starting Jul 19 or 20
- *Fructidor (from Latin fructus, "fruits") Starting Aug 18 or 19
In England, people against the Revolution mocked the calendar by calling the months: Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Wheaty, Heaty and Sweety.
Ten days of the week
The month is divided into three decades or 'weeks' of ten days each, named simply:- primidi (first day)
- duodi (second day)
- tridi (third day)
- quartidi (fourth day)
- quintidi (fifth day)
- sextidi (sixth day)
- septidi (seventh day)
- octidi (eighth day)
- nonidi (ninth day)
- décadi (tenth day)
Days of the year
Instead of most days having a saint as in the Catholic Church's calendar, each day has an animal (days ending in 5), a tool (days ending in 0) or else a plant or mineral (all other days) associated with it.Autumn
| Vendémiaire (Sep 22 ~ Oct 21) | Brumaire (Oct 22 ~ Nov 20) | Frimaire (Nov 21 ~ Dec 20) |
|---|---|---|
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Winter
| Nivôse (Dec 21 ~ Jan 19) | Pluviôse (Jan 20 ~ Feb 18) | Ventôse (Feb 19 ~ Mar 20) |
|---|---|---|
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Spring
| Germinal (Mar 21 ~ Apr 19) | Floréal (Apr 20 ~ May 19) | Prairial (May 20 ~ Jun 18) |
|---|---|---|
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Summer
| Messidor (Jun 19 ~ Jul 18) | Thermidor (Jul 19 ~ Aug 17) | Fructidor (Aug 18 ~ Sep 16) |
|---|---|---|
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Extra days
Five extra days (six in leap years) were national holidays at the end of every year. These were originally known as les sans-culottides (after sans-culottes), but after year III (1795) as les jours complémentaires:
- La Fête de la Vertu "Virtue Day" on Sept 17 or 18
- La Fête du Génie "Talent Day" on Sept 18 or 19
- La Fête du Travail "Labor Day" on Sept 19 or 20
- La Fête de l'Opinion "Opinion Day" on Sept 20 or 21
- La Fête des Récompenses "Rewards Day" on Sept 21 or 22
- La Fête de la Révolution "Revolution Day" on Sept 22 or 23 (Leap years)
Converting to Gregorian Calendar
The calendar was abolished in the year XIV (1805). After this date, opinions seem to differ on the method by which the leap years would have been determined if the calendar were still in force. There are several hypotheses used to convert dates to the Gregorian calendar, of which these three seem to be the most significant:
- The leap years would continue to vary in order to ensure that each year the autumnal equinox falls on 1 Vendémiaire, as was the case from year I to year XIV.
- The leap year would have jumped after year 15 to year 20, after which a leap year would have fallen on each year divisible by four (thus in 20, 24, 28...), except most century years, according to Romme's proposed fixed rules. This would have simplified conversions between the Republican and Gregorian calendars since the Republican leap day would usually follow a few months after 29 February, at the end of each year divisible by four.
- The leap years would have continued in a fixed rule every four years from the last one (thus years 15, 19, 23, 27...) with the leap day added before each year divisible by four, except most century years.
| Year | Equinox | Romme Fixed | Continuous Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCXIV (214) | September 22 2005* | September 22 2005 | September 22 2005 |
| CCXV (215) | September 23 2006 | September 22 2006 | September 22 2006* |
| CCXVI (216) | September 23 2007 | September 22 2007* | September 23 2007 |
| CCXVII (217) | September 22 2008 | September 22 2008 | September 22 2008 |
| CCXVIII (218) | September 22 2009* | September 22 2009 | September 22 2009 |
French Republican calendar in fiction
The shared world of Liavek uses a calendar which is a simple adaptation of the French Republican calendar. It consists of twelve months of 30 days, called Snow, Rain, Wind, Buds, Flowers, Meadows, Reaping, Heat, Fruit, Wine, Fog and Frost. The year begins at the winter solstice, with five days of festival (Festival Week). Every four years is the Grand Festival, which lasts an extra day. There are six weeks of five days: Sunday, Moonday, Windday, Rainday, and Luckday.Neil Gaiman's The Sandman had several stories named after various months, of which one, Thermidor (issue #29, collected in ), is named after a month from the French Republican calendar.
The French calendar is in use in the Republic of Louisianne, a Francophone North American nation of Ill Bethisad, although the ten day week was dropped and replaced with the original seven day week.
See also
External links
- [Summary of the Republican Calendar] (fr es en eo pt de nl)
- [Date converter for numerous calendars, including this one]
- [Leap Year Proposal by Romme]
- [Antique Decimal Watches]
- [Dials & Symbols of the French revolution. The Republican Calendar and Decimal time.]
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