The modern system of reckoning has a little more than two thousand years after the birth of Jesus Christ and several hundred centuries before this event. However, before the advent of the Christian chronology, different nations had their own ways of measuring time. Slavic tribes are no exception. Long before the advent of Christianity, they had their own calendar.
Origin of the word "calendar"
According to the official version, the term "calendar" comes from Latin. In ancient Rome, debt interest was paid on the first days of each month, and data about them was recorded in a debt book called calendarium. Later, it was from the title of the book that the word "calendar" came from, which came to the Slavs with Christianity.
Some scholars believe that this term comes from the phrase "Kolyadin Dar" (Kolyada's gift), which was called the chronology. Slavic origin researchers consider quite possible. Some of them are sure thatthe Romans borrowed the word "calendar" from the Slavs, and not vice versa. Judge for yourself: there is no translation of the word calendarium, as well as an explanation of how it is connected with debts and books. After all, in Latin debt is debitum, and a book is libellus.
Chronology from the Nativity of Christ
To date, our era from the birth of Christ is more than 2000 years old. However, the tradition of counting years in this way has been used for about a thousand years, because even with the recognition of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, years continued to be counted from important secular dates. For the Romans, it was the year of the founding of Rome, for the Jews, the year of the destruction of Jerusalem, for the Slavs, the year of the creation of the world in the Star Temple.
But once the Roman monk Dionysius, compiling Easter tables, got confused among the various systems of chronology. Then he came up with a universal system, the starting point of which would be the year of the birth of Christ. Dionysius calculated the approximate date of this event and henceforth used the chronology called "from the Nativity of Christ."
This system was spread 200 years later thanks to the monk Bede the Venerable, who used it in his historical work on the Anglo-Sanson tribes. Thanks to this book, the British nobility gradually switched to the Christian calendar, and after it the Europeans did it. But it took another 200 years for the church authorities to start using the Christian calendar system.
The transition to the Christian chronology among the Slavs
In the Russian Empire, which at that time included many of the original Slavic lands of Belarus,Poland, Ukraine and other countries, the transition to the Christian calendar took place on January 1, 1700 by decree of Peter I. Many believe that Tsar Peter hated and tried to eradicate everything Slavic, including the calendar, so he introduced the Christian time reference system. However, it is most likely that the king was simply trying to put such a confusing chronology in order. Slavic rejection here, most likely, does not play a role.
The fact is that with the advent of Christianity to the Slavs, the priests actively tried to transfer the pagans to the Roman calendar. The people resisted and secretly adhered to the old calendar. Therefore, in Russia, in fact, there were 2 calendars: Roman and Slavic.
However, confusion soon began in the annals. After all, the Greek chroniclers used the Roman calendar, and the pupils of the monasteries of Kievan Rus used the Slavic calendar. At the same time, both calendars differed from the chronology of Dionysius adopted in Europe. To solve this problem, Peter I ordered the forcible transfer of the entire empire subject to him to the system of chronology dating from the birth of Christ. As practice showed, it was also imperfect and in 1918 the country was transferred to the modern Gregorian calendar, which takes into account leap years.
Sources of information about the Old Slavic calendar
Today there is no reliable data on what the real Old Slavic calendar looked like. The now popular "Krugolet Chislobog" was reconstructed on the basis of information from various historicalsources from later periods. When reconstructing the Old Slavic calendar, the following sources were used:
- East Slavic folk ritual calendar. Written evidence of him dates back to the XVII-XVIII centuries. Despite such a "young" age, this calendar has retained a lot of information about the life of the Slavs during the times of pagan Russia.
- Church calendar "Months". In the process of Christianization of Russia, church authorities often celebrated Christian holidays on important pagan holidays. Comparing the dates of holidays from the Monthly Book with dates from other calendars, as well as from folklore sources, it is possible to calculate the time of important ancient Slavic holidays.
- In the 19th century, about 400 gold plates with inscriptions were found on the site of the Vedic temple in Romania, later called “Santii Dacov”. Some of them are over 2000 years old. This find not only testifies to the presence of writing among the ancient Slavs, but also is a source of information about the eras of ancient Slavic history.
- Chronicles.
- Archaeological finds. Most often, these are ritual clay vessels depicting calendar symbols. The most informative are the clay vases of the Chernyakhov Slavic culture (III-IV centuries AD).
Era of the ancient Slavs
According to the information contained in the "Santia Dacians", the history of the ancient Slavs has 14 eras. The most important event that served as the starting point for the calendar was the approach of the solar and two other planetary systems, as a result of which earthlings immediately observedthree suns in the sky. This epoch was called the "Time of the Three Suns" and was dated 604387 (relative to 2016).
- In 460531, aliens from the constellation Ursa Minor arrived on Earth. They were called Da'Aryans, and this era was called the "Time of Gifts".
- In 273910, aliens again arrived on Earth, but this time from the constellation Orion. They were called the Kh'aryans, and in honor of them the era is called the "Time of Kh'Arr".
- In 211699, the next visit of extraterrestrial beings took place, marking the beginning of the "Time of Swag".
- In 185,779, the rise of one of the four most important cities of the Daaria continent, Tula, began. This city was famous for its skilled craftsmen and flourished for almost 20,000 years. This period of time was called "Thule Time".
- In 165,043, Perun's daughter, the goddess Tara, brought the Slavs a lot of seeds, from which numerous forests subsequently grew - this is how the "Time of Tara" began.
- In 153349, a grandiose war of Light and Darkness took place. As a result, one of the satellites of the planet Phaeton Lutitia was destroyed, and its fragments became a ring of asteroids - this is the era of Assa Dei.
- In 143,003, with the help of scientific achievements, earthlings were able to drag a satellite from another planet, and the Earth, which already had two satellites at that time, had three of them. In honor of this significant event, the new era is called the "Three Moon Period".
- In 111 819, one of the three moons was destroyed and its fragments fell to Earth, sinking the ancient continent of Daaria. However, its inhabitants will be saved - the era of the "Great Migration from Daaria" has begun.
- In 106 791st on the Irtysh Riverthe city of the Gods Asgard of Iria was founded, and the new system of chronology was conducted from the year of its foundation.
- In 44560, all the Slavic-Aryan clans united to live together on the same territory. From that moment, the era of the "Creation of the Great Kolo Rasseniya" began.
- In 40017, Perun arrived on Earth and shared his knowledge with the priests, because of which there was a grand leap in the development of human technologies. Thus began the era of the “Third Arrival of the Whiteman Perun.”
- In 13021, another satellite of the Earth was destroyed and its fragments, having fallen on the planet, affected the tilt of the axis. As a result, the continents broke apart and icing began, called the era of the "Great Cooling" (Cold). By the way, in terms of time frame, this period coincides with the last ice age of the Cenozoic era.
Modern humanity lives in an era that began counting years from the creation of the world in the Star Temple. The age of this era today is more than 7.5 thousand years.
George the Victorious and the era of the creation of the world in the Star Temple
As you know, the word "peace" has several meanings. Thus, the name of the modern era is often interpreted as the time of the creation of the Universe. However, "peace" also means reconciliation between warring parties. In this regard, the name "Creation of the World in the Star Temple" has a completely different interpretation.
Shortly before the first year "from the Creation of the World in the Star Temple" was marked, a war broke out between the Slavic tribes and the Chinese. With huge lossesthe Slavs managed to win, and on the day of the autumn equinox, peace was concluded between the two peoples. To mark this important event, it was made the starting point of a new era. Subsequently, in many works of art, this victory was allegorically depicted in the form of a knight (Slavs) and a slaying dragon (Chinese).
This symbol was so popular that with the advent of Christianity, it could not be eradicated. From the time of the Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise, the knight who defeated the dragon began to be officially called George (Yuri) the Victorious. Its significance for the Slavs is also evidenced by the fact that the cult of George the Victorious was very common among all Slavic tribes. In addition, at different times, Kyiv, Moscow, and many other ancient Slavic cities were depicted on the coat of arms of this saint. Interestingly, the story of St. George is popular not only among Orthodox and Catholics, but also among Muslims.
The structure of the Old Slavic calendar
The Old Slavic calendar refers to one complete revolution of the Earth around the Sun not as a year, but as a summer. It consists of three seasons: autumn (autumn), winter and spring. Each season included 3 months of 40-41 days each. A week in those days consisted of 9 days, and a day - of 16 hours. The Slavs did not have minutes and seconds, but there were parts, fractions, moments, moments, whitefish and santigs. It's hard to even imagine what level the technology must have been if there were names for such short periods of time.
Years in this system were measured not in decades and centuries, as today, but in 144-year cycles: 16 years pereach of the 9 constellations of the Svarog Circle.
Each ordinary year from the creation of the world in the Star Temple consisted of 365 days. But the leap year 16 had as many as 369 days (each month consisted of 41 days).
New Year among the ancient Slavs
Unlike the modern calendar, in which the New Year begins in the middle of winter, the Slavic chronology considered autumn to be the beginning of the year. Although the opinions of historians differ on this issue. Most scientists believe that the New Year was originally on the day of the autumn equinox, which helped to more accurately adjust the calendar for the Slavs from the creation of the world in the Star Temple. However, with the adoption of Christianity according to the Byzantine tradition, they tried to postpone the beginning of the new year to the first month of spring. As a result, there were not only two calendars in parallel, but also two traditions to celebrate the New Year: in March (like the Romans) and September (like in Byzantium and the Slavs).
Months of the ancient Slavs
The first month of the ancient Slavic nine-month calendar was called Ramhat (beginning September 20-23), followed by the winter months Aylet (October 31 - November 3), Beylet (December 10-13) and Gaylet (January 20-23).
Spring months were called Daylet (March 1-4), Eilet (April 11-14) and Veylet (May 21-24). After that, autumn began, consisting of the months of Haylet (July 1-4) and Taylet (August 10-13). And the next, autumn month of Ramhat was the beginning of the New Year.
With the adoption of Christianity instead of Roman, gaveSlavic names for the months. With the establishment of a new calendar by Peter I, Latin names were returned to the months. They remained in the modern Russian language, while the fraternal peoples retained or returned the familiar Slavic names of the months.
It is not known for certain what they were called with the advent of Christianity before the reform of Peter I, however, there are several options reconstructed thanks to the folklore of various Slavic peoples.
Week of the Slavs
The question of the number of days in a week before the reform of Peter I remains controversial to this day. Many argue that there were 7 of them - hence the preserved names in all Slavic languages.
However, if you think about the words from The Little Humpbacked Horse, it becomes surprising how the text of 1834 mentions such a day of the week as the "eight", which precedes another day - the "week".
It turns out that the memories of the nine-day week remained in the memory of the Slavs, which means that initially there were only 9 days.
How to calculate the year according to the Old Slavic calendar?
Today, many Slavs are trying to return to the traditions of their ancestors, including their calendar.
But the modern world, living according to the Christian calendar, requires a person to be able to navigate in this reference system of years. Therefore, everyone using the Slavic chronology (from the creation of the world) should know how to translate years from it into the Christian system. In spite ofobvious differences between both systems of reckoning, it's easy to do. It is necessary to add the number 5508 (the difference in years between systems) to any date of the Christian calendar, and it will be possible to translate the date into the Slavic chronology. What year is now according to this system can be determined by the following formula: 2016 + 5508 \u003d 7525. However, it should be borne in mind that the modern year starts from January, and for the Slavs - from September, so you can use the online calculator for more accurate calculations.
More than three hundred years have passed since the inhabitants of the Russian Empire stopped using the Slavic calendar. Despite its accuracy, today it is only history, but it should be remembered, since it not only included the wisdom of ancestors, but was also part of the Slavic culture, which, despite the opinion of Peter I, was not only not inferior to European, but also in surpassed her in some ways.
