Citizen-comrades of the Ecclesia!
In these past few months, the Glorious Revolution has made tremendous strides, and each day continues to do so. But for all our progress, we still remained weighted down by numerous outdated institutions reflective of an age past. One such institution which continues to perversely infiltrate each day of the Revolution is our manner of timekeeping. Despite our now being a polity ruled by the principles of Equality and Reason, our calendar pays homage to ancient gods and long dead emperors, and the units by which we count the days of the month and the passage of a day are divided into arbitrary and senseless units reflective of historical happenstance rather than rational planning.
So long as this pernicious system abides, the work of the Revolution and all that it stands for will remain incomplete. As such, in the spirit of the Glorious Revolution's inexorable advance, I have, for the consideration of the Ecclesia, drafted a proposal for a new
Revolutionary Calendar, by means of which we may break yet another chain which yet tethers us to the dark world of the past.
Years shall be counted as
annō Revolūtiōnis, "year of the Revolution", abbreviated
AR. The start of the Glorious Revolution shall mark the first day of the first year in this epoch, and every subsequent year shall begin on its anniversay. Years shall consist of twelves months commemorating the principles of
yin and yang, the trigrams of the
Bagua, and the elements of the
Wu Xing.
- Ventaire (vahn-TAIR), from French vent, "wind", reprsenting the trigram for wind;
- Aquaire (ah-KWAIR), from Latin aqua, "water", representing the trigram and element water;
- Boisaire (bwah-SAIR), from French bois, "wood", representing the element of wood;
- Orôse (or-ROHZ), from Greek óros, "mountain", representing the trigram for mountain;
- Gaïôse (gy-YOHZ), from Greek gaîa, "earth", representing the trigram and element of earth;
- Umbrôse (oom-BROHZ), from Latin umbra, "shadow", representing the principle of yin;
- Tonnerral (TAWN-nair-RAHL), from French tonnerre, "thunder", representing the trigram for thunder;
- Ignal (eeg-NAHL), from Latin ignis, "fire", representing the trigram and element of fire;
- Sidéral (SEE-day-RAHL), from Greek sídēros, "iron", representing the element of metal;
- Lacidor (LAH-see-DOR), from French lac, "lake", representing the trigram for lake;
- Cielidor (see-YEL-lee-DOR), from French ciel, "sky", representing the trigram for heaven; and
- Lumidor (LEW-mee-DOR), from Latin lūmen, "light", representing the principle of yang.
Each month shall contain thirty days, divided into three
revolutionary weeks of ten days each:
- Primidi (PREE-mee-DEE), from Latin prīmus, "first";
- Duodi (DOO-woh-DEE), from Latin duo, "two";
- Tridi (tree-DEE), from French tri, "three";
- Quartidi (KWAH-tree-DEE), from French quatre, "four";
- Quintidi (KEEN-tee-DEE), from Latin quīnque, "five";
- Sextidi; (SEKS-tee-DEE), from French sex, "six";
- Adelphidi; (ah-DELF-fee-DEE), from Greek adelphós, "brother", in honor of the fraternity of our comrades in arms;
- Vocidi (VAW-see-DEE), from Latin vōx, "voice", in honor of the Voice of the People;
- Milidi (MEE-lee-DEE), from Latin mīles, "soldier", in honor of the Citizens' Militia; and
- Ecclésidi (ek-KLAY-see-DEE), from Greek ekklēsía, "gathering", in honor of our assembly of the same name.
The months of Aquaire, Orôse, Umbrôse, Ignal and Lacidor, as well as Lumidor on leap years, shall also contain an additional thirty-first day,
Citoyenide (see-
TWAH-yen-
NEED), from French
citoyen, "citizen". Leap years shall be years on which the sum of the year and fourteen is divisible by four-hundred or is divisible by four but not one-hundred. Each day shall be divided into ten hours, each hour into one-hundred minutes, and each minute into one-hundred seconds. Hours shall be numbered from one to ten and minutes and seconds from zero to ninety-nine. The tenth hour shall start at midnight of each day.
The days of the week listed are provisional ones, and with the possible exception of Primidi I would like to establish better names for the ones which are simply numbered. I have also developed the algorithms by which these dates and times may be derived from those of the current system, should the need arise when dealing with residents of regions not as yet blessed by the Light of the Revolution, and see no insurmountable challenges in finding the inverse heuristic.
