Coptic calendar

{{Copts}} The '''Coptic calendar''', also called the '''Alexandrian calendar''', is used by the [[Coptic Orthodox Church]] and still used in Egypt. This [[calendar]] is based on the ancient [[Egyptian calendar]]. To avoid the calendar creep of the latter, a reform of the ancient Egyptian calendar was introduced at the time of [[Ptolemy III]] ([[Decree of Canopus]], in 238 BC) which consisted of the intercalation of a sixth [[Intercalation|epagomenal day]] every fourth year. However, this reform was opposed by the Egyptian priests, and the idea was not adopted until 25 BC, when the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] Emperor [[Augustus]] formally reformed the calendar of [[Egypt]], keeping it forever synchronized with the newly introduced [[Julian calendar]]. To distinguish it from the Ancient Egyptian calendar, which remained in use by some astronomers until medieval times, this reformed calendar is known as the Coptic calendar. Its years and months coincide with those of the [[Ethiopian calendar]] but have different numbers and names. == Coptic year == The Coptic year is the extension of the ancient Egyptian civil year, retaining its subdivision into the three seasons, four months each. The three seasons are commemorated by special prayers in the Coptic Liturgy. This calendar is still in use all over Egypt by farmers to keep track of the various agricultural seasons. The Coptic calendar has 13 months, 12 of 30 days each and one intercalary month at the end of the year of 5 days in length, except in leap years when the month is 6 days. The year starts on 29 August in the [[Julian Calendar]] or on the 30th in the year before (Julian) Leap Years. The Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Julian Calendar so that the extra month always has six days in the year before a Julian Leap Year. The Feast of [[Neyrouz]] marks the first day of the Coptic year. Ignorant of the Egyptian language for the most part, the Arabs confused the Egyptian new year's celebrations, which the Egyptians called the feast of ''Ni-Yarouou'' (the feast of the rivers), with the Persian feast of [[Nowruz]]<ref>[http://freecopts.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=302 Egyptian Calendar of the Martyrs]</ref>. The misnomer remains today, and the celebrations of the Egyptian new year on the first day of the month of Thout are known as the Neyrouz. Its celebration falls on the 1st day of the month of [[Thout]], the first month of the Egyptian year, which for 1901 to 2098 usually coincides with 11 September, except before a Gregorian leap year when it's 12 September. Coptic years are counted from 284, the year [[Diocletian]] became Roman Emperor, whose reign was marked by tortures and mass executions of Christians, especially in Egypt. Hence, the Coptic year is identified by the abbreviation A.M. (for ''Anno Martyrum'' or "Year of the Martyrs"). Note that A.M. abbreviation is also used for unrelated calendar eras (such as the Byzantine and Jewish calendar epochs) which start at the putative creation of the world; it then stands for ''[[Anno Mundi]]''. Every fourth Coptic year is a leap year ''without exception'', as in the Julian calendar, so the above mentioned new year dates apply only between 1900 and 2099 inclusive in the Gregorian Calendar. In the Julian Calendar, the new year is ''always'' 29 August, except before a Julian leap year when it's 30 August. [[Easter]] is reckoned by the Julian Calendar in the Old Calendarist way. To obtain the Coptic year number, subtract from the Julian year number either 283 (before the Julian new year) or 284 (after it). {{See also|Computus}} == Date of Christmas == Coptic Christmas is observed on the 7th day of January. The choice of 25 December to celebrate the Nativity of [[Christ]] was first proposed by [[Hippolytus (writer)|Hippolytus]] of [[Rome]] (170–236),{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}} but was apparently not accepted until either 336 or 364. [[Dionysius of Alexandria]] emphatically quoted mystical justifications for this very choice. 25 March was considered to be the anniversary of Creation itself. It was the first day of the year in the medieval Julian calendar and the nominal vernal equinox (it had been the actual equinox at the time when the Julian calendar was originally designed). Considering that Christ was conceived at that date turned 25 March into the Feast of the Annunciation which had to be followed, nine months later, by the celebration of the birth of Christ, [[Christmas]], on 25 December. There may have been more practical considerations for choosing 25 December. The choice would help substitute a major Christian holiday for the popular Pagan celebrations surrounding the Winter Solstice (Roman Sol Sticia, the three day stasis when the sun would rise consecutively in it's southern most point before heading north, December 21, 22 and 23. The celebrations began a full week prior to the religious observance and the drunken revelers were expectantly sobered and orgies exhausted by the festivals close, prompting the eve or vigil of the 24th/25th as an optimally moral and safe time for the Feast of Christ's Nativity). The religious competition was fierce. In 274, Emperor [[Aurelian]] had declared a civil holiday on 25 December (the "Festival of the birth of the [[Sol Invictus|Unconquered Sun]]") to celebrate the birth of [[Mithras]], a very popular mystery cult among the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] military. Finally, joyous festivals are needed at that time of year, to fight the natural gloom of the season (in the [[Northern Hemisphere]]). That there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night (Luke 2:8), does not rule out 25 December as Christmas - for contemporary records indicate that this was as likely then as at any time of year{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}}. Those who observed what was happening then confirm the weather patterns of the time, and what shepherds did amidst them all.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} Until the 16th century, 25 December coincided with 29 [[Koiak]] of the Coptic calendar. However, upon the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, 25 December shifted 10 days earlier in comparison with the Julian and Coptic calendars. Furthermore, the Gregorian calendar drops 3 leap days every 400 years to closely approximate the length of a solar year. As a result, the Coptic Christmas advances a day each time the Gregorian calendar drops a leap day (years 1700, 1800, and 1900). This is the reason why Old-Calendrists (using the Julian and Coptic calendars) presently celebrate Christmas on 7 January, 13 days after the New-Calendrists (using the Gregorian calendar), who celebrate Christmas on 25 December. By 2100, the Coptic Christmas will be on the Gregorian date of 8 January. == Date of Easter == According to Christian tradition, [[Jesus]] died at the ninth hour (that is, the canonical hour of ''nona''—3:00 pm) of the first full day of [[Pesach]], when that day fell on a Friday; and arose from the dead at or by the first (canonical) hour of the next Sunday. The day of [[Pesach]] (Pascha or Passover, 14 [[Nisan]]), is always at the first full moon following the vernal equinox. At the First [[Ecumenical Council]], held in 325 at [[First Council of Nicaea|Nicaea]], it was decided to celebrate Easter on the Sunday following the so-called [[Paschal Full Moon]], as for the Christian church to differentiate itself from their Jewish counterparts. At the Council of Nicaea, it became one of the duties of the [[patriarch of Alexandria]] to determine the dates of the Easter and to announce it to the other Christian churches. This duty fell on this officiate because of the erudition at Alexandria he could draw on. The rules to determine this are complex, but Easter is the first Sunday after a full moon occurring after the [[vernal equinox]], which falls on or after 21 March, which was its nominal date at the time of the First Council of Nicaea. Shortly after [[Julius Caesar]] reformed the calendar, the vernal equinox was occurring on the nominal date of 25 March. This was abandoned shortly after Nicaea, but the reason for the observed discrepancy was all but ignored (the actual [[tropical year]] is not quite equal to the Julian year of 365¼ days, so the date of the equinox keeps creeping back in the Julian calendar). == Coptic months == * [[Thout]] * [[Paopi]] * [[Month of Hathor|Hathor]] * [[Koiak]] * [[Month of Tobi|Tobi]] * [[Meshir]] * [[Paremhat]] * [[Paremoude]] * [[Pashons]] * [[Paoni]] * [[Epip]] * [[Mesori]] * [[Pi Kogi Enavot|Pi Kogi Enavot (the Little Month)]] == See also == * [[Egyptian calendar]] * [[Computus]] == References == <references/> ==External links== {{Commons category|Saints days}} * [http://www.copticchurch.net/easter.html An introduction to the Coptic calendar] (Gregorian equivalents are valid only between 1900 and 2099) * [http://www.smart.net/%7Emmontes/ortheast.html The Orthodox Ecclesiastical Calendar] * [http://www.andrewfanous.com/CopticCorner/CopticCalendar.htm Ancient Egyptian Calendar and Coptic Calendar] * [http://www.copticheritage.org/PagEd+index-page_id-828.phtml The Coptic Calendar by Bishoy K. R. Dawood] (952KB pdf file – historical development and technical discussion, updated May 14, 2007) {{Calendar of Saints}} {{calendars}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Coptic Calendar}} [[Category:Coptic calendar|*]] [[Category:Coptic Orthodox Church]] [[Category:Christianity in Africa]] [[Category:Christianity in Egypt]] [[Category:Liturgical calendars]] [[Category:Religion in Egypt]] [[ar:تقويم قبطي]] [[be-x-old:Копцкі каляндар]] [[de:Koptischer Kalender]] [[fa:گاه‌شماری قبطی]] [[fr:Calendrier copte]] [[it:Calendario copto]] [[lt:Koptų kalendorius]] [[arz:شهور قبطيه]] [[nl:Koptische kalender]] [[ja:コプト暦]] [[pl:Kalendarz koptyjski]] [[ru:Коптский календарь]] [[sh:Koptski kalendar]] [[fi:Koptilainen kalenteri]]