A History of Time - Months & Years

How did the months of the year get their names? Why are there 12 months of 31, 30 and 28 days? Why is New Year in January? And what is up with leap year?
A History of Time - Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days & Weeks: • Video
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Time, it marches on relentlessly outside of human control. But humanity has long found a variety of ways to mark our passage through the eons. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. But why do we count our collective journey through the ages in these integers? A day makes sense, that’s one rotation of the earth on its axis and can easily be marked by the rising and setting of the sun. And a year is one orbit of the earth around the sun, traveling through the 4 seasons again and again. But why 60 seconds in a minute, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week and 12 months in a year? Let’s look back through history to learn the varied origins of these odd measures of time.
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[@riverAmazonNZ]

“the Church followed the calendar religiously” lol!

[@sm_mikhailovna5126]

as a Catholic, this is so true

[@idkanymore12]

I swear she really doesn’t miss an opportunity to make a pun!

[@Alusnovalotus]

Waa waaah! 🥴

[@TheMaryberry153]

Have you ever thought about narrating children's or young adult books? I think you have a soothing yet clear and engaging voice and would do really well at it!!

[@emilyanderson5846]

My daughter, who is one, absolutely loves these videos to fall asleep to. I watch them because I'm a history nerd. 🤓

[@raeeskgan2551]

@@emilyanderson5846 same 🤓

[@warmporridge882]

I know right? Just today I was thinking how much I would benefit from Lindsey narrating my notes when I'm studying for my next test 😆

[@nathy0308]

Yes I find her voice so captivating!

[@adquilantang]

I was thinking the same thing. I've stopped watching other videos regardless if info was good because I didn't care for the narrator. I really like all these videos for the content and the way she narrates is great

[@Twilekmaniac]

The traditional Japanese calendar has a system of Era Names to keep track of the year. They currently follow a format of using the reigning emperor's posthumous name and how many years they have reigned. For example, 2021 is considered to be the 3rd year of the Reiwa era (令和三年) because it's the 3rd year of the current emperor's reign, and when he dies his posthumous name will be Emperor Reiwa (令和天皇), which is how each Emperor since Emperor Meiji has had their era names decided. Before that, it was much more flexible, and era names were often changed after natural disasters to try to avoid bad luck

[@jozellcarlson2852]

Technically the emperor's reign simply has to end. The emperor emeritus, Akihito, is retired from official duties and as such, the Heisei Era ended in 2019.

[@MarkusDarkscribe]

I bet this took a lot of research hours. Thanks for the hard work.

[@kasashaasreadingjournal3446]

I'm from New Zealand and here we have Matariki, the Maori New year. The Maori are the natives of New Zealand. Matariki takes place in June.

[@riverAmazonNZ]

It’s timed by the rising of the Matariki constellation (the Pleiades)

[@bidishasarma377]

The way they hated February tho ...not cool😂

[@swastikqjana7128]

Oversimplified fan detected 🥸

[@claragrica]

My grandmother was great at this calendar thing. Once she met a guy that was kind of famous and loved to say he was born in february 29th and once he and my grandmother met and since she loved those things she mantions it during a conversation. So he stated "I was born in february 29th 1900", to what my grandmother replied "But 1900 wasn't a leap year". The guy was so embaressed because he was caught in his lie that my grandmother regret saying that like that in front of other people.

[@caseygibson7266]

Ah politicians, messing things up for everyone since ever.

[@est9949]

And religions; though, they are the same thing anyway lol

[@lovelaughlivelisa]

10:30. There is an inaccuracy. The Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year as you call it, is actually February 12 in 2021. It was January 25 in 2020.

[@AmyDamable]

I noticed this too. Had a mini heart attack because I requested the weekend off in February for the Lunar New Year and questioned if I asked for the wrong date off 😂

[@IllnessIllusions]

This got me thinking that in Finland most of the weekdays got their names from vikings but for some reason months weren't based on latin. Instead, Finns named the months after nature. Also, back in the old days new year "kekri" was celebrated at the beginning of November around the time of modern Halloween.

[@followerofmessiahyahusha8769]

HalleluYAH! Praise YAH! ~ Psalm 150:6 ~ kzbin.info/www/bejne/eImkqHZ6gdmmoK8 Love, Light, Laughter, and Prosperity...

[@extraterrestrial7424]

I love how the Romans literally had superstition dictating their calendar. I also always wondered why July + August are out of the regular 30/31 rhythm and now I learned something as simple as human vanity is behind it. Also the fact that politicians even two thousand years ago were the same as current politicians and were the first ones to immediately abuse the leap month for their own purposes. Even this small fragment of human history about timekeeping tells so much about our history. Well done video!

[@Kingpowch]

Now imagine if the south and north hemisphere had different month names after their own seasons. While April is the month of opening and blossom, in the South is autumn.

[@marcobelli6856]

Before globalization almost everyone had a different calendar

[@anubratabit3027]

'must have gotten called to dinner by his wolf mother' LOL

[@JennieBlinkXoldier]

you never failed to have quality and informative videos

[@zhara.1737]

There is also the Islamic Calendar also known as the Hijri, Lunar Hijri, Islam or Arabic Calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holiday and rituals, such as the annual period of fasting and the proper time for the Hajj.

[@BrickFan97]

You've quickly become one of my favorite KZbin channels. You have a great way of presenting a lot of information into nice, succinct videos that are easy to understand.

[@phoebejohnson9043]

Honestly Lindsey is one of my idols ! I love history It is my passion and my dream job to be a historian and she is one of the ones who have made me amazed with history.

[@jp-rankingtv3861]

Please can you send me a friend request thanks

[@baylorsailor]

I'm a Leap Day baby! Makes life a little interesting lol!

[@suzie_lovescats]

When do you celebrate your birthday when not a leap year 🤔

[@cloeashe]

happy birthday

[@rachel_sj]

Again, the Royal Diaries series, this time on Anastasia, introduced me to the difference in Julian and Gregorian calendar dates as a kid and it was kinda confusing to keep up with the two dates. As a kid, I kept thinking “Why can’t they just stick to one date...?!?” 😂

[@TheRoyalWomen]

oH mY gOd i read that book too it was cOnfUsiNg

[@emilymaguire3163]

This popped up on my recommended in perfect timing. I’m learning Greek and seeing the months I think to myself “where are these names coming from?!” So interesting and spectacular that so many words today have their own history!

[@WhiteRabbit1209]

Your voice is so soothing. I listen to your videos in the shower and I swear it’s just as effective as therapy

[@davidhibbs4737]

I’ve only recently started watching Lindsey’s videos but already like them a lot, especially the History of Christmas

[@AdiiraKuro]

It is always a good time to learn something new, interesting or both. Great video. Bonus-Czech names for month and its origins: Leden: led=ice >icy month Únor: nor=to sink >month of ice sinking and breaking Březen: březí=pregnant in animal terms >the month when the animals are pregnant or giving first year birth Duben: dub=oak >the month when oaks grow new leaves and blooms Květen: květ=bloom or flower > the month when everything is in bloom Červen: červený=red > the month when fruit is geting red Červenec: same as červen, but longer Srpen: srp=sickle > the month when ripe grain is being colected by sickle Září: zářit= to shine, but the end of the name sounds the same as the start of the name for next month and therefore Říjen: říj=heat time for animals >month when animals are in heat Listopad:list= leaf, pád=fall >month of falling leaves Prosinec: prosit=to beg or pray > a month for remembering the birth of god, time of increased praying

[@catherineofaragonqueencons4505]

You are the queen of history Thank you lindsay❤❤❤❤

[@stephaniejohnson583]

Japan follows the year of the Emperor. When a new emperor begins his reign, the year starts at one. As Crown Prince Naruhito begin his reign on May 1, 2019 it was year 1. Can seriously mess with OCR readings for invoices.

[@gavrielnugroho1374]

Really? I thought its still heisei now 🤣

[@stephaniejohnson583]

No. May 1, 2019 it became Reiwa 1. Heisei 31 ended on April 30, 2019.

[@japanorbust]

I had no idea about this. Thanks for the info. I looked it up to verify and sure enough they use the Imperial year on official documents. This must be confusing even for many Japanese people since the Gregorian calendar is used in everyday life there as well (though with numbered names for the months rather than the names used in the Gregorian system). To complicate matters more, many festivals in Japan are still arranged around the Chinese lunisolar calendar because the seasonality of those events was constructed based on that calendar, so using the Gregorian calendar makes them feel out of sync with the seasons, and that even varies by region with some choosing to use the Gregorian dates. 😵

[@stephaniejohnson583]

@@japanorbust it threw a monkey wrench into our OCR design (optical character recognition) for our Japan division. We had to build another table linking the Gregorian year and the Emperor year so they wouldn’t fail.

[@hannahrosario1032]

I love this channel so much! It’s so informative and calming

[@amandaredd3057]

You keep it interesting, Lindsay! Thankyou for your content. I thoroughly enjoy it!

[@gaz191]

I got half way through and was totally lost so I let it play on the tv while I made a snack lol. Couldn’t follow a second of it.

[@ambreeniram2268]

Lovely voice. Thank you for enriching our knowledge about date and time.

[@abandonedpast6410]

More interesting history!!

[@ChoccyMilk954]

I really enjoy watching anything you post

[@manitoban3]

This is one of the most clear, most informative videos I have seen in a long time. Thank you!

[@PerfectlyImperfect93]

Thank you Lindsay!💕🎉

[@lucypreece7581]

I would love you to do a history of Valentines Day. you mentioned how February was the least popular month yet Valentines day is in the middle of February. It would be interesting knowing about how this day came about and other variations of it around the world.

[@amarihassan9615]

I love how interesting and comprehensive your videos are. And you have a very soothing voice~

[@stryker1026]

This was so neat!!!! Glad KZbin suggested it to me. I love history and love your voice.

[@teganl6032]

Love these little specific videos on history!

[@rowenamorgan9484]

I've been eagerly awaiting this video!

[@jonnyholmberg]

Love your work. Brilliant. Thank you! 😊

[@taylorswiftharrystyles]

could you do something about the history of witchcraft I would be super interested in that

[@ellenamontana1352]

This was excellent! Very well done! Bravo

[@khusheesyeda1485]

I FREAKING LOVE YOUR CHANNEL AND ITS CONTENT

[@elisebrodeur-jacobs5215]

This is so fascinating!

[@annavoytenko]

I knew a little before I watched. You have a beautiful narrative voice. I liked the part about traveling in time at 09:17

[@AstroGirlAutumn]

This video is really cool. Thanks so much

[@IsauraMUrena]

I loveeee this videos! Es mucho lo que se puede aprender gracias a estos vídeos, Gracias :)

[@ellaeadig263]

There is also the Buddhist calendar (BE = Buddhist Era), which takes it's starting point from when Buddha attained nirvana (in other words, at his death). This happened 543 years before the beginning of what we call the Common Era (CE). The Buddhist calendar is still used in Thailand, so Thai people currently count the year (2021 CE) as being 2564 BE. Furthermore, in the late 1800s King Rama V instituted the Thai solar calendar, which was 365 days long and marked Thai New Year (called Songkran) as beginning in April, once the sun crosses the constellation of Aries. But in the 1940s New Year's Day was changed to the 1st of January, meaning 1 January 2022 CE will be the beginning of the year 2656 BE. However, Thai people still celebrate both the solar New Year and Thai New Year. On top of that, Chinese people living in Thailand observe the Chinese year also. But somehow everybody copes living by three different calendars with no problems!

[@carmenaidavilleda3330]

I always wanted to know this!!! Thank you!

[@chlnaturester]

I'm really loving the history of time series

[@kartikakitty8391]

Very nice. I never knew about this before.

[@Cheshiregrinn91]

That moment where you learn you were born in an 'unlucky' year. Also Augustus. Lol Why you gotta be like that.

[@moonp3623]

i love your channel so very much

[@TRAZ316]

Spectacular :)

[@purpleglasses4511]

I was actually rlly curious ab this but forgot to look it up, thank you so much I learned a lot :)

[@luckycharm1611]

Thanks for the info

[@jerohamowusu2680]

Thank you

[@ashmirsingh7998]

yesss I love this even tho I havent watched it!!

[@animelover7846]

Me with all her videos tbh lol

[@MarshalltonUMC792]

You and me too!

[@randymanmaximus8419]

I'll always give time for your vids.

[@japanorbust]

Thank you. This was so satisfying to watch and finally understand where all of these month names came from and how the calendar evolved to what it is. There is one correction I would offer, which is that in 2021 the Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year) is on February 12. It was January 25th last year. 🐂🏮🧨🧧🎇

[@joojishibuki]

Lindsay what do you think about the Holocene calendar proposed by Cesare Emiliani? I think it’s a cool way to think about human accomplishment. Happy 12021!

[@louvendran7273]

@jooji I'm all for it as it is a secular calendar.

[@hankwilliams150]

EXCELLENT video!

[@bipsomma2483]

I needed to watch this twice lol. But so good !!!!

[@diocore2816]

you're one of my favorite channels :)

[@katieeckler7543]

Love your videos

[@samantharus1270]

You should seriously talk about the last queen of Italy, she'd had an interesting life.

[@katblackmountain6091]

Great and very informative Video! I enjoy your content very much and hope, you'll stay with us and keep the videos coming I would like to add one little thing, I learned waaaaaaaay back in school : the first humans were hunters and collectors and only needed the moon. They always moved with the wild animals and life was hard back then. But Earth and Human kind were in sinc. Much later, people started to settle and grow wheet and started to keep life stock. So they had to turn towards the sun, since it is needed to grow things for the steadily growing population and to feed the life stock.

[@Reticence9zen924]

Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Months, Years, Centuries, Millennia.

[@nikolathegreat1526]

Great video! This is the best video I have seen in a long, long time! You have a like from me!

[@QueenLottie87]

Really great video with interesting information. 🇦🇺

[@whissywhassy]

Our Bengali (West Bengal, India) calendar follows the lunar cycle...very informative video...loved it...❤❤

[@MrZattack101]

What I've wondered for many many cycles

[@thxforsharing5679]

PLEASE DO QUEEN ELIZABETH WOODVILLE, MOTHER OF DYNASTY CUZ HER STORY IS VERY INTERESTING AND MYSTERIOUS WITH HER MOTHER 🥰

[@Ri-Lizzie]

Fascinating! So does this mean, for example, that Queen Elizabeth I was born on September 17th and not September 7th? Or, have historians corrected the dates from before England followed the Gregorian calendar?

[@ChibiProwl]

Good question. I’d like to know that as well.🤔

[@hippityhop99]

Love your work Lindsay! Chinese new year for 2021 will be on Friday 12th February. (25th Jan was for 2020)

[@juvine3227]

thank for that my question has been answered

[@latreesetools1534]

New Sub here!! Really enjoy ur content.

[@raphaelzlimz8437]

There's more other type of calendar like the Muslim Calendar, Hindu Calendar and etc. Where I'm come from the calendar are used are the common with some 3 extra calendar are added which are the Chinese, Hindu and Muslim calendar.

[@torgeirbrandsnes1916]

Great vlog as always! I love learning something new every day! Thank you. In Scandinavia we have the Runic calendar, and the Primstav. It is a crude weather teller and may also tell how the harvest will be. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_calendar

[@thanduxolonelisiwe3265]

Oldest calendar is Adam Calnder in South Africa. Its over 160,000 years old.

[@IDontWantThisStupidHandle]

Wow -- I knew a lot of this already (given I"m a huge mythology fan), but I had no idea ancient Romans considered even numbers to be unlucky (and thats why so many months have an odd number of days)! Fascinating...

[@hanjen608]

Have you thought of doing a video on the change from BC to AD, and how it was chosen?

[@Frog888]

It's my birthday and I'm named after a month, could this video come out on a more perfect day?

[@artsyartistic6777]

Our country has it's individual months and years, it the year 1427 and falgun is coming next month. And no one can forget the Pohela boishakh, which happens in 14th April every year

[@jamescharcoal3472]

Oh my.. I slept in so I couldn’t see the video! Also, I think this- sketch of me and Victoria is a bit wide, do you agree?

[@sarasamaletdin4574]

The Roman kings are considered pretty mythical these days, so it’s more likely that it was later on attributed what they did to explain things in Romans systems and history. Although Etruscan kings did rule Rome. It was Augustus who named July (after hai adopted father and it was now how family name) and Augustus (for himself). Caligula tried to name September Germanicus (after himself and father who had gotten the name from his father who had had victories in Germany, Caligula also has Germanicus in his name). But it didn’t stick since he was assassinated. Some later on emperors tried to change the months too, most famously Commodus who changed all the names of months after his own 12 names (the Roman Emperors as time went on gained huge amounts of names). I recall that he even put Augustus in a different spot, it was one of his names but in different order in his names so it must have been confusing. But he was also assassinated and his names didn’t stay.

[@kkech1]

I'd use a 9 day week. Add Ouranos and Neptune as those 2 extra days, making a 10 month year. July and August gotta go. 🙅🏻

[@paintcannon4733]

Don't forget decades, centuries, and millennia.

[@Nisa_002]

Beautiful vid as always, but will you tell Islamic/Persian and Arabic calendars like Rumi or Hijri calendars?

[@5arianne5]

Please do a thorough research about Queen Margherita of Italy. Thank you for your whole research.

[@ectoplasmicentity]

Why does Chinese Calendar have a mythical Dragon in it when all the other ones are real?

[@Twilekmaniac]

I'm guessing that when they created it there were still plenty of people who believed in dragons

[@FC-hj9ub]

For many years people believed dragons were real

[@repuyanfrancezvyamarie3337]

Dinosaur bones

[@user-ys5ju1qx6j]

😂😂😂😂I am on the floor!!!!😅 Why y'all puttin down February!!!!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@AG-sy3lx]

The first people are here!

[@brettlarch8050]

Seconds minutes Hours Days Weeks Months Years Decades Centuries Millenniums Eons

[@kingping7979]

What are Eons?

[@brettlarch8050]

@@kingping7979 pretty much 10,000 years. Anything past a millennium which is 1,000 years

[@kingping7979]

@@brettlarch8050 oh ok

[@MrHenn85]

how in the hell did they even know they were revolving around the Sun in the moon was involving around them in the first place

[@conradojavier7547]

According to Ancient Calendar, March is the True Start of the New Year, not Janus.

[@edinagaspar722]

I guess that is why the horoscope actually starts with Aries that is in March. 🤔🤔

[@lucypreece7581]

Currently for me as i write this it is Wednesday 6th January 2021 and the time is 8:26 am. It is winter, very cold and there are remnants of snow and ice on the ground. Also currently at the start of a third lockdown. so fun times.

[@brookecohen5470]

As a Jew I was so happy to see you include the Jewish Calendar however you misspronounced the first month of the Jewish year. You said “Teeshree” instead of “Tishrei” or Teesh- ray

[@brookecohen5470]

Also the Jewish new year is pronounced rOsh HaShana ( the o in Rosh is a hard o and there should be a stress on both the ha and sha in HaShana)

[@chanrobspierre5840]

tizri

[@lethalSelphie]

Just a small correction: January 25th 2020 was Chinese/Lunar New Year. It will be February 12th, 2021 this year. Out with the Rat and in with the Ox. Thank you for the video! Very informative, as always.

[@canyouguesswhatami8301]

Another great video from this channel! but if i may add, i think you missed the islamic calender (Hijriyah) which based on the moon. Regardless, thank you for sharing us another knowledge!

[@avaangora]

I think it makes more sense to celebrate the new year at the beginning of Spring than in the middle of Winter.