Translation tables for the Rational calendar (version 2)

Here’s a couple of translation tables to make the inevitable switch from the Gregorian calendar to my brilliant alternative a bit easier:

1st day of Winter, 2009	Dec. 21st, 2008
1st day of Spring	March 22nd, 2009
1st day of Summer	June 21st
1st day of Autumn	Sept. 20th

 

Awrg, now I’m reminded that we need to do something about the year count as well… I’ve suggested starting at 10 000, to encompass the entire history of civilization in the positive count, but I’m not completely convinced myself yet. Tell me if you have a better suggestion. Until one is found, I’ll just continue to use the standard one.

This table is better than the above for calculating what day it is:

Dec. 21st, 2008	Winter 1st, 2009
Jan. 1st, 2009	Winter 12th
Feb. 1st	Winter 43rd
March 1st	Winter 71st
March 22nd	Spring 1st
April 1st	Spring 11th
May 1st	Spring 41st
June 1st	Spring 72nd
June 21st	Summer 1st
July 1st	Summer 11th
August 1st	Summer 42nd
Sept. 1st	Summer 73rd
Sept. 20th	Autumn 1st
Oct. 1st	Autumn 12th
Nov. 1st	Autumn 43rd
Dec. 1st	Autumn 73rd
Dec. 20th, 2009	Extra-calendrical holiday!
Dec. 21st, 2009	Winter 1st, 2010

 

In the Gregorian calendar, today is May 11th, which is 10 days from May 1st, so in the Rational calendar it translates as the 51st day of Spring.

Birthdays are trickier to translate, because in the Gregorian calendar winter solstice isn’t fixed to a date, and might fall on another date in the year you were born than in the current one. My own birthday is 16th of May (1983), but the winter solstice of 1982 fell on the 22nd of December, so if I define my birthday using the Rational calendar, I should celebrate my birthday the 15th of May this year, which, by coincidence is what it’ll continue to be the next few years as well. But as this chart shows, it will slowly slide backward to an earlier date: