The Anglo-Saxon Calendar

Today's Date is

This is a purely notional calendar that I have invented, based upon various known aspects of solar calendars in the past and traditions in England, many of which still survive today. This page explains how the calendar is structured and my reasons for this. It is not intended to be a proposal for calendar reform, which I have detailed elsewhere, but more for personal interest and a way of linking the calendar to the main solar events of the year, i.e. the solstices and equinoxes.

How it works

The calendar is designed so that, in most years, the beginning of each quarter takes place on the day following the appropriate solar event. In the Gregorian calendar, these dates are 21st March, 22nd June, 23rd September and 22nd December, and each season begins on the appropriate date.

Structure of calendar

The arrangement of the months follows the old division of the year into two seasons, summer and winter. The summer months all have 31 days, whilst the winter months have 30 days, except Rethemonth, which has only 29, but increasing to 30 in leap years. The year, however, begins at the winter solstice, the first day corresponding to 22nd December.

Epoch

The epoch for the calendar is the year 444 C.E. and the era is called A.S.E. (Anglo-Saxon Era). The years are therefore approximately 444 years behind those of the Gregorian calendar.

Leap years

Leap years in the Anglo-Saxon calendar occur in those years which have a 29th February in the Gregorian calendar. For example, 1564 A.S.E. is 22nd December 2007 to 21st December 2008, and thus is a leap year. 1565 will not be a leap year and neither will 1656, which includes February 2100, one of the century years in the Gregorian calendar that is not a leap year.