Time Out
Time Out
An excuse to move May celebrations to a later date – such as 29 May – was probably a welcome one for some people in the North of England, since a great deal of these traditions rely heavily on flowering plants and greenery, a slightly later germination in the North of England must have made the gathering of sufficient blooms in early May difficult enough. But worse was yet to come...
Britain and Europe used to observe the Julian Calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar, based on an average year of 365 ¼ days. As it turned out, this calculation was about 11 minutes too long! The mistake was not noticeable at first, but after one thousand years the seasons had shifted by nearly eight days. By the 16th century, astronomers realised that eleven days had accumulated and, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII changed the calendar omitting the extra days.
Britain did not observe the Gregorian Calendar but, in 1751, an Act of Parliament (Chesterfield’s Act of March, 1750) was passed declaring that the day following 2 September, 1752, would become the 14 September. Many people believed they were being cheated out of eleven days of their lives and riots broke out with people crying “Give us back our eleven days!”
