They signed the reform on a grey Brussels spring day in 2026.
Retired the months that limped, stretched, or overstayed their welcome —
Twelve equal months now, thirty days apiece, neat as a train timetable.
And your birthday always falls on the same day of the week.
Long before Rome gave us its awkward, uneven months,
Twelve was already measuring moons, seasons, trade, and time.
The dozen kept returning because twelve divides so easily —
We Earthlings didn't invent the idea; we simply remembered it.
Dozenal means counting by twelve instead of ten:
A number neatly divided by two, three, four, and six.
Ten suits our fingers; twelve rather suits the universe —
And perhaps, our fingers have been running the calendar for too long.
No February starved, no August bloated with borrowed days.
Every month now stands exactly as tall as every other —
No more “Thirty days hath…” rhymes to remember the exceptions.
Just thirty steady steps, repeated twelve times a year.
Only four days of work now, a short, sensible working week.
Then Saturday and Sunday spill out like a held breath —
Two whole days with nothing automatically owed to anyone,
A weekend now enjoyed without the stress of an overworked week.
At year's end, five festival holidays float free for all to enjoy —
Christmas first, out of December, then Boxing Day's quiet exhale.
Holiday Three, Holiday Four, with a Fifth extra holiday in leap years,
Before New Year's Eve closes the old year, and opens the next.
At first we'll complain that the calendar looks so horribly wrong,
Look for old dates and ask what happened to October 31.
By March—or whatever, we're eventually persuaded to call it OK —
We'll wonder why thirty-one ever seemed like a sensible number anyway.
No more memorizing knuckles, no miserable little February,
No more reciting that truly ancient rhyme: “Thirty Days Hath…” Oh my! —
Just twelve equal months, six-day weeks, and four working days.
With five—or six—spare days gathered at the year's end for everyone to enjoy.
So, Hear Ye All! The great European calendar revolution begins:
Paying homage to canny twelve—the Dozen of the Universe!
Rome had two thousand years to straighten the calendar out.
Brussels finally fixed it — after twelve committee meetings.
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Author:
John Richard Anderson (Pseudonym) (
Offline) - Published: August 26th, 2026 00:39
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 6
Offline)
Comments4
Lovely and fanciful a fun read too bad 365 is not evenly divisible by twelve. The five day holiday reminds me of an old biblical measure for the calendar. Like the metric system I am sure there will be hold outs and that ought to cause some scheduling problems. All in good fun a lovely and most creative piece.
...and the difference of days to our present calender will mean that one day Christmas will be in summer. But fair enough... the Aussies will have it in winter...
Not sure I understand why => Probably a good thing Down Under as serving Hot Turkey with gravy and hot baked spuds is ridiculous in blazingly hot summer sun!
It is because the earth revolves around the sun in nearly 365 days and not in 360. To keep the seasons in place we have to add one day every leap year as it is...
The leap year additional day is just before New Year's Eve => | +Leap Year| => extra day in Leap Years
But with only 360 days in a year one would need more than one extra day each leap year to keep the seasons in place. Or do I have my physics crooked?
PS: i was born March 5th. Maybe pisces are better in spiritual matters...
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