SO..if i were to want todivide the year into four quarters to form 4 exactly equidistant holiday periods......

Question

.....then the equinoxes and solstices would be the ideal globally applicable time-points to designate for a secular and rational division of the year instead of all the spurious half baked illogical religious festivals..yes?

hznfrst: i didnt even mention my desire for the year to always start on a monday!
i was thinking of 12 weeks per quarter [ie:3 months of 28 days each+i week=91 days per quarter] + one extra day added somewhere.

pragmatic: i know what you mean but my main concern is to experience the year properly by having it divided as near as possible by four equidistant holiday periods.

Answer 1

Yes indeed. This would be a desirable improvement to the World Calendar, which already exists. It divides the year into four identical quarters of 13 weeks each, and adds one day at the end of the year (which is between week days so every year always starts on Monday) to bring the days to 365, and another day at the end of June for leap years.

To novangel.., it's true the seasons vary in length by a few days, however the advantage of this calendar is to make the quarters the same and only approximate the seasons. I would start the year on what is now Dec. 22nd and call it Jan. 1, so the solstice would always fall on either the last or first day of the year and let the actual season dates fall where they may.

It's a lucky accident that there are nearly 12 moon cycles in a year so we have 12 months instead of 10. Ten is an incredibly klutzy base for a number system since it is only divisible by 2 and 5, whereas 12 has factors 2,3,4 and 6. Societies already use dozens over 'tens' because of this fact.

To respond to the asker's comment, I only put in that Monday suggestion as an extra; it doesn't affect the main point. I don't see the point of 3 * 28 + 7, though - months ought to be as nearly equal as possible, for aesthetic as well as business reasons.

Answer 2

Wrong. The seasons are not equally spaced. The Earth's orbit is eliptical, so by equal areas / equal times, it's only an approximation. Based on the end of month days, Winter is 90 days (31, 31, 28); spring 92 (31, 30,31); summer 92 (30, 31, 31); fall 91 (30, 31, 30); 365 total. Seasons don't carry the same significance from region to region. The French tried something "ration" along with the metric system and it was a dismal flop.

Answer 3

Some ancient cultures had special religious practices during equinoxes and solstices.
The problem for a "rational division" of the year comes from the fact that a year does not contain an entire number of days. They are 365 days plus a fraction that spoils it all.

Answer 4

This is NOT a question of astronomy and space

Answer 5

already do it pagans