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elbanditoroso's avatar

We switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in September 1752. Are you aware of any contemporaneous writings that described the change?

Asked by elbanditoroso (33577points) July 26th, 2020

By that, I mean books or essays written within a year of September 1752. Not histories written recently.

Are you aware of anything written about the calendar change roughly at that time?

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2 Answers

Jeruba's avatar

What I remember reading about it some long time ago was that many people opposed the change—some, even hysterically—because, they said, the calendar adjustment would shorten their lives by eleven days. (Was it eleven?) I suppose there must have been a contemporaneous source for that information, assuming it was accurate and I’m recalling it accurately.

The account I read posed that objection in terms that clearly invited the reader to marvel at what an absurdly illogical objection that was; in our enlightened day, of course we would know better.

And so I would have thought, too, but only until I read recently that some people reject daylight savings time because “If standard time is good enough for God, it’s good enough for me.”

These days I don’t think there’s anything too illogical to be believed by someone. So I guess the story is perfectly plausible.

doyendroll's avatar

When you say ‘we’, you refer of course to Great Britain and the British Dominions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_(New_Style)_Act_1750#Reaction_and_effect

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