Transcript What Time is it?

• Your challenge is to figure out the year in which
your mystery person is born.
• You will be given a riddle having to do with a year
on a certain type of calendar, perhaps one you
have never even heard of.
• You and your group members need to figure out
what year the mystery person is born in, and what
calendar is being used.
• Once you figure that out, read about that calendar
so that you can explain what sets it apart from the
rest of the calendars in the class.
• Your group will do a short explanation to your
classmates once everyone has figured out their
calendars.
• 1. Your mystery person is having a bit of amnesia. When asked when they
were born, they keep saying they don't remember, but they know they
were born 3464 years after the year 1464 B.C. When were they born? How
old are they? What calendar are they using?
• 2. Your mystery person can't remember when they were born, but keep
saying that they could have sworn it was in the year 1421 A.H.? What does
that mean? Figure out what calendar they are using, what it means, and
how old they are.
• 3. Your mystery person thinks they are from the future, because they were
born in the year 5762. Could this be right? What calendar are they using
and how old are they?
• 4. Your mystery person can’t tell for sure when they were born, but they
keep thinking that it is somewhere around the year 4700. They also said
that they kept having this dream that they were a horse, and they were
being chased by a dragon. What calendar are they using, and how old are
they?
What Time is it?
How Cultural Calendars Measure
Time in Different Ways
Measuring Time
• Scientifically, the year
is a complete cycle of
seasons.
– A year is when the
earth completes one
full orbit of the sun.
– Its length is measured
from one spring
equinox to the next
spring equinox.
Why Bother Measuring Time?
• Knowing the season was vital when deciding
to plant and harvest crops as well as managing
livestock in colder climates.
• Other cultural and religious practices
happened at specific times of the year, so it
was important to have some sense of time.
Back in the Day…
• The obelisks of ancient
Egypt, dating from as far
back as 3000 BC, were
used to measure the
progress of the year by the
length of the shadow they
cast.
• Stonehenge in Britain was
probably built for the same
purpose.
– It measured the year by
the sunrise and sunset
angle on the horizon.
Other Signs of Time
• The annual disappearance
and re-appearance of the
stars has been used by
many cultures.
• Natural signs such as the
blossoming or fruiting of
particular plants or the
migrations of birds have
also been used to mark
the passing of the
seasons.
B.C., B.C.E. or A.D.?
• For centuries Western
Christianity has referenced
time in relation to the birth
of Christ.
– The abbreviation AD stands
for Anno Domini, the Latin
term meaning ‘in the year of
the Lord’.
– Years after the birth of Christ
are AD while years before this
were BC or ‘Before Christ’.
The Gregorian Calendar
• This is the most widely used
calendar in the world.
• The term New Year’s Day was
adopted in Western Europe in
the Middle Ages.
• Before this the Roman Julian
calendar (named after Julius
Caesar) was used.
• The Roman influence explains
why the months of July (Julius)
and August (Augustus) are
named after Roman emperors.
The Gregorian Calendar
• Julius Caesar overhauled the
Roman calendar in 47 BC by
changing the number of days
in the months to bring the
total to 365 days with a leap
day every four years.
• Caesar changed New Year's
Day from the northern spring
equinox to just after the
northern winter solstice.
• Sound Familiar?
Muharram: Muslim New Year
• The Islamic year begins
on the first day of the
month of Muharram.
• It is counted from the
year of the Hegira (Anno
Hegirae), when
Muhammad emigrated
from Mecca to Medina
(16 July 622 AD).
• The New Year in
December 2013 marks
the beginning of 1435
AH.
Rosh Hashanah – Jewish New Year
• On the Jewish Calendar,
2013 is actually year
5773
• Rosh Hashanah is one of
the most important
religious holidays in the
Jewish calendar.
• In Hebrew, Rosh
Hashanah means the
‘head of the year’, and it
commemorates the
creation of the world.
Rosh Hashanah – Jewish New Year
• The Jewish calendar
represents the number of
years since creation
– Found by adding up the ages of
people in the Bible.
• So when we say that the year
is 5773, that means 5773
years from the birth of Adam
on the sixth day of Creation.
• The Jewish year is calculated
by adding 3760 to what is
known as the civil year (2013)
Chinese Calendar
• The Chinese lunisolar
calendar is divided into 12
months of 29 or 30 days.
• The calendar is adjusted to
the length of the solar
year by the addition of
extra months at regular
intervals.
• The years are arranged in
major cycles of 60 years.
Chinese Calendar
• Each successive year is
named after one of 12
animals. These 12-year
cycles are continuously
repeated.
• The Chinese New Year is
celebrated at the second
new moon after the
winter solstice and falls
between January 21 and
February 19 on the
Gregorian calendar.
• The year 2013 translates
to the Chinese year 4710–
4711.
Questions
• 1. Why do we bother to measure time in days, months and
years?
• 2. Why are there so many ways of measuring time? In a
paragraph, of between four and six lines, explain why there
are so many different calendars in the world.
• 3. What are at least two things that all the calendars listed
above seem to have in common?
• 4. What are at least two major differences between the
calendars listed above?
• 5. According to the Muslim and Jewish calendars, what year
were you born in?
• 6. Wouldn't it be simpler if there was just one, single
calendar that applied to everyone?