Story Hour
Happy New Year
Written by Gene B. Williams
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Christmas is over, and Nicker is a little sad. So am I. Are you?
There was all that waiting. All that thinking. All that excitement.
There were Christmas lights, and Christmas displays, and Christmas trees, and Christmas meals (and Christmas cranberries), and Christmas friends – and Christmas presents!
Now it’s over. And the year is over.
That means that the new year is about to begin!
“When will the next Christmas be?” Nicker wanted to know.
You know when it’s New Year. You know when it is Christmas, Thanksgiving, or your birthday. At least, you know if you use a calendar.
People love to celebrate the usual things. They also love to celebrate some unusual things. Get out a calendar because here come just a few. Mark them on your calendar for a whole year of fun. (For even more fun, you can find plenty more!)
January 3 – Festival of Sleep Day (yawn)
14 – Dress Up Your Pet Day
19 – Popcorn Day
February 7 – Wave All Your Fingers at Your Neighbor Day
13 – Different Name Day (make up a name for yourself)
March 1 – Peanut Butter Lovers Day
15 – Incredible Kid Day (are you?)
April 2 – Children’s Book Day AND Peanut Butter and Jelly Day
24 – Pig in a Blanket Day
May 1 – Mother Goose Day
9 – Lost Sock Memorial Day
10 – Clean Up Your Room Day
June 1 – Flip a Coin Day
4 – Hug Your Cat Day
28 – Paul Bunyan Day (do you know about Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox?)
July 2 – I Forgot Day
15 – Cow Appreciation Day
26 – Aunt and Uncle Day
August 6 – Wiggle Your Toes Day
22 – Be an Angel Day
27 – Just Because Day
September 11 – Make Your Bed Day
13 – Peanut Day (Nicker’s favorite)
15 – Make a Hat Day
16 – Collect Rocks Day
28 – Ask a Stupid Question Day
October 2 – Name Your Car Day
7 – World Smile Day
21 – Babbling Day (talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and …)
November 13 – World Kindness Day
21 – World Hello Day
23 – Eat a Cranberry Day (Carsten’s favorite)
December 1 – Eat a Red Apple Day
7 – Cotton Candy Day (Tess’s favorite)
13 – Ice Cream Day
Most people use what is called the Gregorian calendar. (No, you don’t have to remember that – but it’s kinda fun knowing things. Imagine saying, “I think I’ll go look at our Gregorian calendar and see what day it is.”)
It can be confusing. There seem to be a lot of things to memorize just to use it. Mostly, you have to remember the names of the 12 months and the names of the 7 days. And the number of days in a month changes. (January has 31 days, February has 28 days … oh, but then every 4 years it has 29 days … and …)
How would you invent a calendar? Could you make it better?
The most basic calendar might simply show how many times the sun came up. If that’s all you had, it wouldn’t help much. Imagine having to say, “I am 1,932 suns old.” Tomorrow that would change, and again every time the sun came up. (I bet you don’t know how many suns-old you are!)
From one sunrise to the next sunrise is called a day, in English. In Germany it is tag (said tog), in France it is jour (said jjjooer). You could call it a blittelstick if you wanted. (Of course, no one would have any idea what you were talking about, but ….) We divide the day into 24 hours, the hours into 60 minutes, the minutes into 60 seconds.
Whatever you call them, the sun comes up 365 times (and a little more) in the time it takes the Earth to go around the sun once.
A third part is the moon. It goes around the Earth. As it does, the moon seems to get bigger and smaller. This happens roughly every 30 days, about 12 times per year.
The thing is – it’s not all quite as neat or accurate. A day isn’t exactly 24 hours. More, it keeps changing. The Earth is tilted, so as it goes around the sun, for most of the world days seem to get longer and shorter. Making that even more complicated, when days are longest in, say, America, we call that summer – but at that same time, in Australia (say) the days are shortest. And when you might out playing in the snow at Christmas, some boy or girl in Australia might be putting on shorts because it is hot.
The moon goes around the Earth in about 29 ½ days. It’s not a nice, neat 30 days – it’s off by a bit. And there’s nothing you can do to change that. Meanwhile, the Earth travels around the sun in 365 ¼ days.
To make a calendar, you have to TRY to make all those odd-shaped pieces fit together. People have been trying to do that for thousands of years. You can’t change how fast the Earth spins, how fast the moon moves, or how fast the Earth goes around the sun. We can’t straighten the Earth so it isn’t tilted. And all of these things are different.
We make up words so we can talk and have SOME idea of time.
“I’ll be there in an hour,” means something.
“We’re going to France next April,” means something.
“I’m 6 years old,” means something.
“The Egyptians were building the pyramids 5000 years ago,” means something.
“At midnight on December 31, 2009 it becomes January 1, 2010,” means something. At least it does to most of the world.
But the calendar most of us use isn’t the only one.
The Chinese New Year, for example, doesn’t happen until February 10, 2010 – and on that calendar it’s not 2010, it is 4708, and is the Year of the Tiger. The next New Year on the usual calendar will still be December 31. On the Chinese calendar it will be February 3, 2011, the year of the Rabbit. Nicker is watching this calendar because on January 23, 2012, it will be the year of the dragon!
Calendars can help you keep track of things – like when your birthday is coming, or Christmas. They’re also great for decorating a room.
Do you have a calendar?
Maybe you would like to make one.
Click here to get a FREE printable calendar page to get you started.
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| Hindu calendar for the years 1871-72 | La Moharra Inscription – a Mayan calendar |
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| Aztec calendar | Chinese zodiac carved into stone |
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| Jewish zodiac | Roman calendar |
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