The World Calendar

The World Calendar was introduced by Elisabeth Achelis in 1930.  She founded the World Calendar Association October 21 of the same year.  It was gaining great international support until World War II interrupted civilized discussion.  Reintroduced to the United Nations after the war, world-wide adoption was thwarted by the United States in 1955.  The organization moved to Ottawa and became the International World Calendar Association.  Sadly, the UN setback led to demoralization of World Calendar supporters.  Now, with the advent of the internet, there is again a small movement for adoption of the World Calendar voicing its support.

The World Calendar consists of 12 months, divided into four quarters.  Each quarter begins on a Sunday, with a 31-day month.  This is followed by two 30-day months.  At the end of the year, an extra day is appended to bring the total number of days to 365.  This is called World Day and does not have a weekday designation.  It is conceived of as an international holiday much like New Year's Eve.  Every fourth year, an extra day is added to the sixth month.  It too has no weekday designation, and is thought of as an international holiday.  By this method, we would have the same calendar for every year.

If, by some miracle, the world should decide to come to its senses, it would be simplest to pick a year that begins on a Sunday, i.e. 2006, 2012, 2017, 2023, 2034, 2040, 2045, 2051, 2062, 2068, 2073, 2079, 2090, or 2096.  (2012, 2040, 2068, and 2096 are leap years, but that is not a problem.)  If the change doesn't happen in the 21st century, we may as well forget it!

The change would involve one minor inconvenience:  People with birthdays on March 31, May 31, or August 31 will have to celebrate the 30th of the month (or the first of the next month).  If your birthday is on December 31, you get to celebrate it on World Day.  On the plus side, people born on February 29 will be able to celebrate on the 29th every year!

For more information, see Rick McCarty's wonderful Home Page for Calendar Reform at personal.ecu.edu/mccartyr/calendar-reform.html, as well as Bill Hollon's calendar comparison page at http://www.12x30.net/table.html. For another page on alternative calendars, see http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/comtescalendar.html.
 
First Quarter
January
February
March
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Second Quarter
April
May
June
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Leap Day*
Third Quarter
July
August
September
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Fourth Quarter
October
November
December
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World Day*

* World Day (New Year's Eve) occurs every year between December 30 and January 1 and is not assigned a weekday.  Leap Day occurs every fourth year between June 30 and July 1 and is likewise not assigned a weekday.

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