***** Repost 2023 *****Back in Sept. 2, 2018 ‘Calendar Adjustment Day' fell on 'Father's Day' . But if we travelled back to Sept. 1751, dear old Pops would have slept through the Annual devotion to Dads! Not even an alarm clock could have prevented him sleeping it out. #confused?
Australia, is one of four countries to celebrate Father's day on the first Sunday in September. So how could one sleep through Father’s Day? Well, it starts with Julius Caesar, who introduced the Julian calendar in 45BC ; but it had to be replaced because it calculated leap years incorrectly, due to inaccurate solar calculations. Replaced by the Gregorian calendar which is the most widely used calendar in the world today, and now the internationally accepted Civil or Universal calendar.
The Universal Calendar was originally adapted from a design by Luigi Lilio, an Italian doctor, astronomer and philosopher; however it was named after Pope Gregory XIII. In 1582 Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Poland were the first countries to begin using the Gregorian calendar. Can you see anything unusual in the 1582 Calendar pic? But not every country adopted the new calendar system resulting in a “double” leap year - creating February 30th 1712 in Sweden and Finland.
Nearly 170 years passed before The British Isles and British Territories overseas began applying the adjustment. Following the British ‘Chesterfield Act’ of 1751, Britain finally adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1752. But in order for the calendar to sync with the Vernal Equinox — which is used as a marker for Easter Sunday* and the Winter Solstice — they needed to adjust some dates.
So, on the evening of 2nd September 1752, the British Isles and British Territories overseas went to sleep and awoke the next morning to 14th September the 1752! Date wise, Father’s Day usually falls no later than Sept. 8th, so the loss of 11 days in one nights slumber on 1752 was gambling with the Annual sock and undies gift day that is Father’s Day - that’s if Fathers was celebrated back then!
*Easter Sunday is usually the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the Vernal Equinox.
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