Old New Years Eve
The old New Year's Eve in the Appenzell hinterland , which is mainly celebrated in Urnäsch , Waldstatt , Hundwil and Stein , but also in Herisau , Schwellbrunn and Schönengrund , is the last remnant of a self-confident resistance to the Gregorian calendar reform . In the Appenzellerland , the calendar reform was introduced in 1584 and 1789 respectively. The New Year's Eve, however, still occurs today on January 13th as a protest by a part of the reformed Ausserrhoder people who did not allow themselves to be ordered by a Pope as to when they should celebrate their festivals.
In the second half of the 16th century, the Julian calendar , named after Julius Caesar, was limping in 46 BC. BCE came into force, ten days after the real time. Because compared to the astronomical solar year given by the actual course of celestial mechanics , which lasts 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds, his year was a little more than eleven minutes too long. The problem was already recognized at the Council of Nicaea (325), and the Councils of Constance (1414–18) and Basel (1431–48) also dealt with the matter. Rabanus Maurus (around 840), Roger Bacon (1263/65) and Nicolaus Copernicus (1514) proposed reforms . But only Pope Gregory XIII. (1572–85) announced the reform of the erroneous calendar on February 24, 1582 .
The calendar reform
The content of the reform consisted in the omission of ten days. 1582 was the October 4 of the 15. October follow. The residue of the calendar to the sun should be so finally caught up, and the equinox in spring, which is so important for the calculation of Easter but was back on March 21 returned. To avoid errors in the future, the years 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100 etc. cannot be leap years. Those years that are divisible by 400 (without remainder) should continue to be leap years. Only in 3333 years will there be a one-day error in the new calendar.
Adoption of the calendar
Only a few countries such as Spain or Portugal actually adopted the new calendar on October 4th or 15th, 1582. Most of the Catholic countries in Europe followed suit over the next few years, while the Protestant countries initially rejected the new calendar because it had been decreed by the Pope . As in the Orthodox areas, the reform took hold late, most recently in Romania in 1924 . Also in Switzerland , the calendar reform was a bone of contention of the denominations . In Catholic areas like Uri , Schwyz , Lucerne (incl. Freiamt ), train , Friborg , Solothurn , Appenzell and St. Gallen ( pen and Fürstenland ) were written in 1584 after the January 11 to January 22 . In Unterwalden , the implementation of the reform (change from May 2 to May 13, 1584) is only assured for Obwalden . It was not until 1812 that the last Reformed parishes in Switzerland joined the new calendar with Sent , Schiers , Grüsch and Avers .
Reform in the Appenzellerland
The situation in the paritarian state of Appenzell was somewhat complicated . On January 8, 1584, the two-time district administrator in Appenzell decided to carry it out like the Catholic towns. However, it was not always easy to get used to the new era. Most likely still in the baptismal register of Appenzell, where a baptism was recorded on January 12th. Correctly, however, the next entry was made there on January 23rd. Landammann Joachim Meggeli even sealed a certificate on January 14th. While the land clerk was already dating according to the new calendar in March, the sack master , as the two previously mentioned a Catholic, still adhered to the old custom when making entries in the land accounts . According to P. Rainald Fischer, the new calendar should have prevailed in the Catholic inner Rhodes from April, but not in the reformed outer Rhodes. The most violent quarrel was there in the areas that were church-related in the Rhine Valley , where the old calendar still applied. The predicants supported by Zurich (the Reformation shaped by Huldrych Zwingli ) ran a storm against this innovation, which had nothing to do with faith just because it came from a Pope. You have therefore been quoted several times before the Council, as can be seen from some entries in the financial sources. The captains from the outer Rhodes and part of the people found it easier to come to terms with the new era, however, as they showed great interest in starting the holidays , festivals and fairs on the same day as the Catholics. After a comparison, the minds calmed down, and in the following years the outer Rhodes also adhered to the Gregorian calendar.
Definitive abolition
In 1589 the Outer Rhodes decided to stick to the old calendar again. The decision goes back to the emergence of denominational tensions after 1586, such as the counter-Reformation activity of the Capuchins and the strict interpretation of the church hall principle from 1524 in the church in Appenzell. In addition, the religious treaty of 1588 caused great displeasure in the outer Rhodes, which reacted in their area with the same measures against the Catholic minorities. The increase in the difference between the two calendars by eleven days was the external reason for the reform for the new believers in Switzerland. But the fading of confessionalism also created the conditions for taking this step. It was decided to start the year 1701 on January 12th. Almost all Protestant areas took part. Widerborstig showed themselves Appenzell Outer Rhodes , the city of St. Gallen , Evangelical Glarus and Graubünden . These areas did not introduce the reform until 1724 or later. In Ausserrhoden, the Julian calendar was not abolished until June 26, 1798, but could still be used until Christmas .
Because the years 1800 and 1900 are leap years in the Julian calendar, but not in the Gregorian calendar, the date of the “old New Year's Eve” has meanwhile moved forward two days - from January 11th to January 13th.
The old new year
In some Orthodox republics and areas of the former Soviet Union ( Russia , Ukrainian Malanka, Belarus , the Republic of Moldova , Uzbekistan , Georgia , Azerbaijan , Kazakhstan ) the old New Year celebrations are celebrated on the night between January 13th (old New Year's Eve) and January 14th ( old new year). It is the actual date of the civil Orthodox New Year , corresponding to January 1st of the Julian calendar (cf. the Orthodox Christmas on January 7th). It is neither an official religious nor a legal holiday, but is celebrated by many as the end of the Friday season with the family.
In Serbia , the Serbian New Year (Српска Нова година, Srpska Nova godina ) is celebrated on January 14th . In Macedonia , an old New Year (Стара Нова година, Stara Nova godina ) is celebrated on this day , which is also celebrated in Montenegro . It is the day of the Hen Galan celebration in Wales .
In Scotland , New Year is celebrated on January 12th. Certain Berbers from North Africa ( Morocco and Libya ) also celebrate this festival on January 12th.
literature
- Hans Hürlemann: Urnäsch. Landscape - Customs - History . Herisau 2006, ISBN 3-85882-432-1 .
Web links
- Old New Year's Eve on the website of the Waldstatt community
- New Year's Eve , appenzellerland.ch
Individual evidence
- ↑ appenzell.ch: New Year's Eve . ( Memento from January 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ From farm to farm . Tagblatt online , January 13, 2016.
- ↑ Hans Hürlemann: Urnäsch. Landscape - Customs - History . Herisau 2006, p. 78