Calendar reform

[jeafl]

I have wanted to establish a Christian school ever since I graduated from college. I have designed a K-12 curriculum that would prepare students to take at least 8 AP exams by the time they graduate. However, this curriculum would require a five 9-week academic terms instead of the normal four 9-week terms. But the civil calendar that has so many holidays on moveable dates and which allows holidays to fall on different days of the week from year to year would wreak havoc with my schools schedule.

I have always been fascinated by calendars and time-keeping and calendar reform so I have designed a new calendar that would fit my schools needs.

I propose that every third month have 35 days and all other months have 28. This would give a civil calendar of 364 days. The day after Thanksgiving Day in common years would be 48 hours long and would count as a single calendar day. Leap years would have two of these 48 hour days and they would be used to augment the Christmas shopping season.

The calendar I have designed would work for my school, but it would also help the economy by having set holidays on set dates so the years commercial seasons would be more even.

Some holidays, like Christmas and Independence Day, would be moved to new days of the year so their calendar dates would remain the same. The date for Easter would be fixed around the mid-point of the ranges of dates that it can now fall in. Memorial Day would also be fixed to a permanent date.

This calendar would allow roughly equal periods of time for each holiday season, which would be better for business and industry. Independence Day would fall roughly halfway between last Christmas and next Christmas. Easter would fall roughly halfway between last Christmas and next Independence Day. Valentines Day would be on the new February 14 (which would be on a different day of the year, but not by very much) so it would fall roughly halfway between Christmas and Easter.

I would put Thanksgiving Day roughly halfway between a fall holiday and Christmas. However, I do not want the calendar to have Halloween because of its Satanic overtones and its current commercial similarities with Christmas; I believe the Antichrist will likely celebrate his birthday on Halloween so he can mimic Christs birthday on Christmas.

The alternative to Halloween would fall in late September or early October so it would fall roughly halfway between Independence Day and Christmas. But what kind of holiday could it be? Id want to keep Thanksgiving Day as a harvest festival, but I would appreciate any suggestions anyone could make for the Halloween alternative. It would need to commemorate something in Americas history or Judeo-Christian heritage while at the same time having some commercial potential- I would assume that Christian businesses would not want to give up Halloween income without having something to replace it.

Easter, Independence Day, the Halloween substitute and Christmas would divide the year into rough quarters. Other, more minor holidays, falling in the middle of each quarter would round out the commercial year and give 8 distinct shopping seasons. Valentines Day and Memorial Day would be included in the minor holidays, but I would I dont know what to do for the other 2 minor holidays.

Under the current calendar economic activity is at the mercy of the calendar. The calendar we have now has 5 Fridays between Thanksgiving and Christmas in some years but only 4 in other years and Easter may be as early as March 28(?) or as late as April 25(?)- some years are good for Easter clothing sales while others are bad depending on how long the season is and whether nor not most of it comes before or after warm weather arrives.

The only thing I can think of as a substitute for Halloween would be some kind of harvest festival. Parties and carnivals on this festival would take the place of Halloween parties and carnivals. Having children go door to door to hand out gospel tracts to non-Christian homes while receiving candy at Christian homes could replace trick-or-treating and using lanterns to identify the homes where treats are available with lanterns could replace jack-o-lanterns. But what could you do for the costume industry?

[Furrowed Brow]

Having children go door to door to hand out gospel tracts to non-Christian homes

Aah...........aauuurrrghhhh!!!!! This is an horrific picture. It's wrong on so many levels.

One of the few point I'm in agreement with Dawkin's over in the God Delusion is that there is no such thing as Christian children, just children of Christians.

Actually stop....I've change my mind. I'm one of those who will talk the evangelicals who come to my door and will argue with them. I know it is pointless. They are usually too old and inflexible to change their pattern of thinking. But fresh meat........send them my way.......they can be molded and influenced.......the seed of atheism put in their young minds..........