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Subject: Re: [O-W] 1792 Calendar used in France
Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 22:42:51 -0400
Hello.
Anent this Revolutionary Calendar the nineteenth-century miscelleny,
Chambers' Book of Days [printed in Edinburgh by W & R Chambers Ltd., no
date], says the following.
"Amidst the heats of the Revolution, the French Convention, in
October 1793, adopted a set of names for the months... their year
standing thus:
1. Vendémaire, Vintage, ... Sept. 22.
Autumn {2. Brumaire, Foggy, ... Oct. 22.
3. Frimaire, Frosty or Sleety, ... Nov. 21.
4. Nivose, Snowy, ... Dec. 21.
Winter {5. Pluviose, Rainy, ... Jan. 20.
6. Ventose, Windy, ... Feb. 19.
7.Germinal, Springing or Budding ... Mar. 21.
Spring {8. Floréal, Flowery, ... Apr. 20.
9. Prairial, Hay Harvest, ... May 20.
10. Messidor, Corn Harvest, ... June 19.
Summer {11. Thermidor, Hot, ... July 20.
12. Fructidor, Fruit, ... Aug. 18.
Five days at the end, corresponding to our 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th,
and 21st of September were supplementary, and named sans-culottides, in
honour of the half-naked populace who took so prominent a part in the
affairs of the Revolution. At the same time, to extinguish all traces of
religion in the calendar, each month was divided into three decades, or
periods of ten days, whereof the last was to be a holiday, the names of
the days being merely expressive of numbers --- Primidi, Duodi, Tredi,
&c. And this arrangement was actually maintained for several years, with
only this peculiarity, that many of the people preferred holding the
Christian Sunday as a weekly holiday. The plan was ridiculed by an
English wit in the following professed translation of the new French
Calendar:
' Autumn --- wheezy, sneezy, freezy.
Winter --- slippy, drippy, nippy.
Spring --- showery, flowery, bowery.
Summer --- hoppy, croppy, poppy.' "
Yours,
Richard Turner.
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