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New Year Calendar

The New Year Calendar is a proposal to reform the present Gregorian calendar. It is based on the World Calendar. So it is a 12-month, perennial calendar with equal quarters. Furthermore it has days outside the week cycle in order to keep the dates on the same day of the week every year. In this way the New Year Calendar remains the same every year. The week starts with Sunday.

For days outside the week cycle I would like to coin the word 'weekfree' days.

The New Year Calendar has four equal quarters not counting the weekfree days. Each quarter has 91 days, 13 weeks and 3 months. The three months have 30, 30 and 31 days respectively. The weekfree days are New Year and Leap Day. These days have a date and so are part of the calendar.

New Year and Leap Day are preceded by a Saturday and followed by a Sunday. So they are inside the weekend and extend it with a day. They are not intended as ordinary working days.

New Year

Of course New Year is on January 1. January therefore has 31 days as well as March, June, September and December. February has 30 days.

Leap Day

For an equal distribution of weekfree days Leap Day is placed in the middle of the year. Leap Day is on June 32. So in ordinary years June has 31 days, but in leap years it has 32 days.

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New Year

All over the world New Year is celebrated with parties, festivities and gatherings. It is a tradition to wish each other a happy New Year and to make good intentions for the coming year. This existing festive day suits very well as the special day every year outside the week cycle. On the other hand World Day would introduce a new festive day right before New Year. That could hinder worldwide acceptance. That is why it is better to use New Year as a special day of the calendar.

Christmas

While December has 31 days, Christmas, December 25, will always be on a Sunday. The present calendar results in two broken working weeks, when Christmas and New Year are on a working day. The New Year calendar will not have those broken working weeks. That will make scheduling and work planning easier in the weeks following Christmas and New Year.

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a condensed calendar

Because the dates stay on the same weekday the New Year Calendar can be rendered with a condensed scheme for one quarter. January however is added. It is the only month with a different scheme.


Advantages

The New Year Calendar has the same advantages the World Calendar has. It is perennial, always starts on the same day, can be used unaltered every year, has a simple structure and is therefore user friendly. The quarters of equal length make accounting, statistics and administration simpler and easier. There is no short month of 28/29 days. Compared to the World Calendar the New Year Calendar has clear extra advantages:

The year begins with a special weekfree day, New Year. All over the world New Year is celebrated, whereas World Day does not cite the imagination. Furthermore Christmas is always on Sunday. As a result there are no more broken working weeks after Christmas and New Year, contrary to the present calendar.

The New Year Calendar is an uncomplicated alteration of the present calendar. The year count, the system of leap years, the names of days and months all stay the same. There is no radical break with the past.

Disadvantages

Of course there is some change. The arrangement of the dates changes slightly. For the days with fixed dates, like festive days, birthdays, jubilees, etc. another date will have to be chosen, when they are at present on day 31 of May, July, August and October. That does not seem difficult. The previous or the next date in the calendar?

As for the religious objection, one can graciously invite to regard the days of New Year and Leap Day as special days that do not count in the seven-day week.

It seems fair to say that the disadvantages are strongly outweighed bij the clear advantages. A transition to the New Year Calendar seems worthwhile.

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