Genealogical DatesDates, together with names, are the building blocks of “raw” genealogical data

Unfortunately, dates in genealogical texts may not be as simple as one would hope, e.g. 1641 Dn. 10. p.Tr., or 7 xochitl 1 ocelotl 13 tecpatl

                                                                                                                                                                  

Three common systems have been used to date events:

ritual lunar solar

The Aztec Calendars

Tonalpohualli – Ritual CalendarTwo independent cycles that advance simultaneously

One cycle of 13 days

One cycle of 20 days

Results in a 260 day year of 20 weeks 13 days long

•Cipactli (Crocodile)

•Ocelotl (Jaguar)

•Mazatl (Deer)

•Xochitl (Flower)

•Acatl (Reed)

•Miquiztli (Death)

•Quiahuitl (Rain)

•Malinalli (Grass)

•Coatl (Snake)

•Tecpatl (Stone Knife)

•Ozomahtli (Monkey)

•Cuetzpalin (Lizard)

•Ollin (Movement)

•Itzcuintli (Dog)

•Calli (House)

•Cozcacuauhtli (Vulture)

•Atl (Water)

•Ehecatl (Wind)

•Cuauhtli (Eagle)

•Tochtli (Rabbit)

•Cipactli (Crocodile) -- Ehecatl (Wind) -- Calli (House) -- Cuetzpalin (Lizard) -- Coatl (Snake) -- Miquiztli (Death) --

•Mazatl (Deer) -- Tochtli (Rabbit) -- Atl (Water) -- Itzcuintli (Dog) -- Ozomahtli (Monkey) -- Malinalli (Grass) --

•Acatl (Reed) -- Ocelotl (Jaguar) -- Cuauhtli (Eagle) -- Cozcacuauhtli (Vulture) -- Ollin (Movement) –

•Tecpatl (Stone Knife) -- Quiahuitl (Rain) -- Xochitl (Flower)

AZTEC WEEKS

AZTEC DAY CYCLES

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

Tecpatl (Stone Knife)

Quiahuitl (Rain)

Xochitl (Flower)

Cipactli (Crocodile)

Ehecatl (Wind)

Calli (House)

Cuetzpalin (Lizard)

Coatl (Snake)

Miquiztli (Death)

Mazatl (Deer)

Tochtli (Rabbit)

Atl (Water)

Itzcuintli (Dog)

Ozomahtli (Monkey)

Malinalli (Grass)

Acatl (Reed)

Ocelotl (Jaguar)

Cuauhtli (Eagle)

Cozcacuauhtli (Vulture)

Ollin (Movement)

Xiuhpohualli – Agricultural Calendar Eighteen months of 20 days each

A five day period ending the year

Results in a 365 day year

Atlacacauallo (ceasing of water) -- Tlacaxipehualiztli (flaying of men) -- Tozoztontli (little vigil) --

Hueytozoztli (great vigil) -- Toxcatl (dryness) -- Etzalcualiztli (meal of maize & beans) –

Tecuilhuitontli (small feast of the lords) -- Tecuilhuitontli (small feast of the lords) --  

Tlaxochimaco (birth of flowers) – Xocotlhuetzin (fall of fruit) & Hueymiccaihuitl (great feast of the dead) –

Ochpaniztli (sweeping of the roads) -- Teoleco (return of the gods) -- Tepeihuitl (feast of the hills) –

Quecholli (precious feather) -- Panquetzaliztli (raising of the banner) -- Atemoztli (water descends) –

Tititl (stretching) -- Izcalli (resuscitation) – [Nemontemi (empty days)]

AZTEC MONTHS

Years (xihuitl) are taken from the tonalpohualli day name that corresponds to the last day of the last month of the xiuhpohualli

AZTEC YEARS

Calli, Tochtli, Acatl, and Tecpatl are the only mathematical possibilities: e.g. 1 Rabbit, 8 Reed, 13 House

The xiuhpohualli continued for a 52 year cycle [xiuhmolpilli], the period necessary for it and the tonalpohualli to coincide

Other Calendars of Significance to Your Work

Hebrew*

Roman

Julian

Gregorian

French Republican

Quaker*

* Will not see text in Latin

Hebrew Calendar -- Lunisolar

1. yom rishon (Sunday)

2. yom sheni (Monday)

3. yom sh'lishi (Tuesday)

4. yom revi'i (Wednesday)

5. yom chamishi (Thursday)

6. yom shishi (Friday)

7. Shabbat

1. Nisan (30 days)

2. Iyyar (29 days)

3. Sivan (30 days)

4. Tammuz (29 days)

5. Av (30 days)

6. Elul (29 days)

7. Tishri (30 days)

8. Cheshvan (29 or 30 days)

9. Kislev (30 or 29 days)

10. Tevet (29 days)

11. Sh'vat (30 days)

12. Adar (29 days)

Days of the Week Months of the Year

When Adar enters, joy increases

JEWISH MONTHS

The Jewish month is based on the lunar or synodic month.

Since the exact duration of one revolution is a little over 29.5 days, the length of the months normally alternates between 29 and 30 days.

A month of 30 days is called male ('full'), one of 29 days chaser ('defective'). There are two months, Cheshvan and Kislev, which are male in some years and chaser in others.

The first day of each month (with the exception of Rosh Hashana) is Rosh Chodesh (lit. 'head of the month') - and so is the thirtieth day of the preceding month, if there is one.

For example, if a gravestone inscription mentions the first day of Rosh

Chodesh Elul, the calendar date 30 Av is meant.

JEWISH YEARSAn ordinary year consists of twelve months

When Cheshvan has 29 days and Kislev 30, it is “regular”

If both have 30 days, it is “complete” or “excessive”

If both have 29 days it is “defective”

Thus, an ordinary year can have 353, 354 or 355 days, and a leap year 383, 384, or 385 days

Count begins with the Creation, 3760 BCE

What is the problem?

A lunar year of 354 days is about 11 days shorter than the solar yearIf the Jewish calendar were based exclusively on the lunar year, Pesach (15 Nisan) would fall in the spring in one year, in the winter a few years later, etc.The Tora says that Pesach must be celebrated in the spring:

יבד Mָאב Oׁש, ָה Rֶד Tֹח Vים, ְּב Mִא VְצTם י Rֶּת ּיֹום, ִא\   ָה\ (Shemot 13:4)

so the average length of the Jewish year must be adjusted to the solar year. This is achieved by adding an entire month about every three years in a 19 year cycle. In each cycle of 19 years, the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years are leap years, the others are common years.

30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+29+29+30+29=353 (deficient common year)30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29=354 (regular common year)30+29+30+29+30+29+30+30+30+29+30+29=355 (complete common year)30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+29+29+30+30+29 =383 (deficient leap year)30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+30+29+30+30+29 =384 (regular leap year)30+29+30+29+30+29+30+30+30+29+30+30+29 =385 (complete leap year)

Mathematics

LEAP YEARS

  Length in a Length in a Length in a

Name deficient year regular year complete year

Tishri 30 30 30

Heshvan 29 29 30

Kislev 29 30 30

Tevet 29 29 29

Shevat 30 30 30

(Adar I 30 30 30)

Adar II 29 29 29

Nisan 30 30 30

Iyar 29 29 29

Sivan 30 30 30

Tammuz 29 29 29

Av 30 30 30

Elul 29 29 29

Total: 353 or 383 354 or 384 355 or 385

Composite Calendar

JEWISH NEW YEAR

The new year (Rosh Hashanah [or Rosh Hashana]) falls on Tishri 1, which falls at the mean conjunction (new moon) of Tishri, except in the case of a “postponement”

1. If the mean conjunction is at midday or after, then Rosh Hashanah is delayed by a day

2. Rosh Hashanah cannot fall on a Sunday (as this would make Hoshanah Rabba fall on Saturday) or Wednesday or Friday (as this would make Yom Kippur fall adjacent to the Sabbath)

3. If Rosh Hashanah falls on a Tuesday and the mean conjunction of Tishri for the following year is to fall after midday, application of the previous two rules would result in delaying the following Rosh Hashanah from Saturday until Monday and would cause an unacceptable year length of 356 days; instead, this year's Rosh Hashanah is delayed until Thursday

4 Rosh Hashanah on Monday after a leap year can cause the finishing year to be too short, so Rosh Hashanah is delayed until Tuesday

The Traditional European Calendar

With the exception of some religious groups, most Europeans have used a solar calendar

The Julian calendar was used from Roman times and was replace by the Gregorian calendar. The two calendars differ only in their treatments of leap years

Purpose of the conversion was to put dates back in sync with observable positions of the sun and to keep them there

Why was there a meaningful problem?

The Problem -- Easter

Associated by the Council of Nicea with the vernal equinox

Vernal equinox was defined as 21 March

Even with a leap year, the Julian calendar was “off” by 11 min.

Over 1300 years this amounted to a 10 day variance

The Solution

Ten days were dropped from the year as an one time event

Centennial years not divisible by 400 would not be leap years

The New Problem –a Divided Orthodox Faith and Heterodox Christianity

Protestant groups adopted the new calendar slowly

Major challenges to research:

Where?

When?

How do you tell the difference?

All dates before 1582 are not Gregorian

By 1752, most dates are Gregorian

For the period 1583-1752 there is a potential problem

The system is overtly statedNun folgen die Kinder die nach dem Neuen Calendar getaufft worden

N.S (Neustil / New style)

The system is implicitly statedCheck day of the week on a perpetual calendar

Check for religious holidays on a perpetual calendar

i.e. Pentecost can only occur on a Sunday

Check conversion chart in text

Converting a Date

Julian to Gregorian (+) – Gregorian to Julian (-)

For dates through

28 February 1700 add 10 days

28 February 1800 add 11 days

28 February 1900 add 12 days

28 February 2100 add 13 days

07 August 1956 to Julian

1956 8 07 [July has 31 days]

-13

1956 7 25

Determining the Year

New Year’s Day has not always been 1 January

Christmas, 25 December (esp. before 1400)

Easter (Vernal Equinox) 25 March (esp. UK areas through 1752)

Need to review the register to see which month is the first under each year

H[ic] s[epultus] e[st] the body of Tho[mas] the sonn of Tho[mas] Lambert gent[leman] who was borne May Y 13 An[no] Do[mini] 1683 & dyed Feb[ruary] 19 the same year

Example

Benjamin Franklin b. 17 January 1706; d. 17 April 1790

Julian dates, b. 06 January.; d. 06 April

If born in Boston, a Catholic area

New Years Day = 01 January

If born in Philadelphia

New Years Day = 25 March

b. 1706 or 1705; d. 1790

Perpetual Calendar Indicies

Julian and Gregorian calendars do not vary in the number of months per year, nor in the number of days per month.

The same 14 calendars apply to both systems, therefore; but the systems do not use the same calendar for any given year

Which calendar you need to consult is indexed in your text

Perpetual Calendar

Calendars are not the same every year, since 365/366 is not divisible by 7

2001 January 01 = Monday

2002 January 01 = Tuesday

2003 January 01 = Wednesday

How many are possible?

Perpetual Calendar no. 2 of 14

The Church Calendar

Sometimes dates in genealogical texts are recorded according to the church calendar

1641 Dn. 10. p.Tr

Most feast days are fixed. See text p. 62-155

Many of the major feasts are “moveable” i.e. they do not occur on the same day every year. Their date is relative to another event or feast

e.g. Corpus Christi day is the Thursday after Trinity, which is the first Sunday after Pentecost, which is the seventh Sunday after Easter. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the

vernal equinox.

Easter

Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox

The dates of historical Easters have been calculated and are present as a chart in your text

Some variations in calculating when there was a full moon led to different dates for Easter. This occurred primarily in Protestant Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Sweden.

1641 Dominica 10

post Trinitatis

10 Sundays after Trinity, which is 1 Sunday after Pentecost, which is 7 Sundays after Easter, which in the Julian calendar of 1641 was 25 April

Equals 10 Sundays + 1 Sunday + 7 Sundays after 25 April, or

29 August, 1641

Karl Nilsson, baptized “Oculi 1750” in SwedenOculi = 4th Sunday before Easter

Sweden converted to Gregorian calendar in 1753

Julian date for Easter 1750 was 14 April, but 1750 was a variant year for Sweden: 18 March

Calendar #2 is indexed for 1750. Counting back, 4th Sunday before Easter was 18 February

Examples

redditum --Document no. 17b

In n[om]i[n]e s[an]c[t]e et individue trinitatis am[en]. Q[uonda]m oblivioni et calumpnie nichil efficati[us] adv[er]saturq[ua]m scriptura et operationis s[an]c[t]e propositum nulla debet occasio impedire: hui[us] siquidemrationis intiutu ad perpetuendam memoriam donationis et elemosine mee formameius scripto decreuim[us] annotandam.

calumpnie: 1st dec. s. dat. fem. w/ adversaturoccasio: 3rd dec. s. nom. fem. w/ nulla, subject of debetperpetuendam: gerund, acc fem s. w/ ad; from perpetuendamelemosine: 1st dec. s. gen. w/ mee and donationis