2023

We are celebrating a new year on our Gregorian calendar, 2023. This number counts the duration of our particular Western European culture. The bigger the number, the longer we have lasted. It is, though, just a number. If it wasn’t for Pope Gregory, that number would be different. Until then we were operating on the Julian calendar initiated by Julius Caesar. On that calendar the dates of the Solstices and Equinoxes drifted over time. The Pope was most interested in keeping Easter near the Spring Equinox and the old pagan rebirth and fertility celebrations.

In 1582 Pope Gregory decreed our pre...