Attic Calendar -The Attic Calendar was in use in Athens and its surrounding territories during its most productive period as far as classical literature is concerned (5th & 4th centuries B.C.E.). Although there were several other calendars in use at the time, and at different times throughout history, this one has the most documentation as it was used to run the internal affairs of the city. It is also the one many modern Hellenic Pagans choose to base their liturgical calendar on.

Celtic Tree Calendar -The Celtic tree calendar, also called the Beth-Luis-Nion Calendar, is a modern calendar based on modern, theoretical interpretations of the Ogham alphabet, or the Celtic Tree Alphabet. While there is no evidence of ancient Celts or Druids using a calendar that even resembled this one, it has, however, become a valuable spiritual, liturgical and magical tool for some modern NeoPagans who identify with the ancient Celts. Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans reject it utterly as a complete fabrication with no historic basis. Which of course it is. Others embrace it as a tool to enhance their magic, their spirituality and their connection with nature and to help give structure to their rituals.

The Gregorian Calendar -The Gregorian calendar is the modern calendar widely used throughout the world. It was an improvement upon the previously popular Julian Calendar that was off by 11 minutes causing a drift of about 3 days every 400 years. This drift upset the Christian Liturgical calendar because it caused the Vernal Equinox to fall gradually earlier and earlier, which affected the date of Easter. The Gregorian calendar was adopted by papal bull decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.

Julian Calendar -The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Ceasar in 45 BCE in response to the confusion of the previous Roman calendar which was very inaccurate and required regular meetings of officials to decide when days should be added or removed to keep the calendar aligned with the seasons. To further the confusion, it seems these officials sometimes added or removed days to suit their own ends, for example, they might remove a few days to get a public official they were not fond of out of office quicker.

Wheel Of The Year -Wiccans and Druids and many other modern Pagans use the Wheel of the Year liturgical calendar. It is based on the agricultural calendar of Western Europe and defines a cycle, of birth/sowing, growth, decline/ripening and death/harvesting and storage of the crops, then rest and repeat. Some NeoPagan religions attach specific cosmological storylines to these activities, illustrating the cycle through the lives of Gods and heroes, but these vary quite a bit by tradition and the traditional folk holidays these are based on are, at their heart, agrarian. They have been Pagan and they have been Christian, but they were always agrarian.


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