Over 100 years ago, in 1918 all Russians lost 13 days in February for a very simple reason.
The entire population of Russia lost almost half of February, exactly 13 days at the time 100 years ago. The reason for this strange event was very simple: The government of Soviet Russia at that time officially changed from the old calendar, also known as the Julian calendar, to the new one, also known as the Gregorian or solar calendar.
The government of Soviet Russia at that time issued a new order ” On the application of the Western European calendar” , in this decree, the date immediately after January 31, 1918 was February 14, 1918, instead of January 1. February 1918 as usual. The decree states that the goal is to “establish a system of time calculation in Russia that corresponds to that of most other countries”.
Calendar of leader Vladimir Lenin at the Kremlin. (Photo: Sputnik).
The conversion of the calendar in Europe was done at the beginning of the 18th century, before that the region used the Julian calendar issued by the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar on January 1, 45 BC. However, this type of calendar is deviated and slower than the modern calendar, or the Gregorian calendar issued in the 16th century . As of 1900, the Julian calendar was 13 days off the Gregorian calendar.
Initially, the Bolsheviks intended to gradually transition to the new calendar by reducing one day each year. However, this option was cumbersome and took too much time to convert, so the Bolsheviks made the decision simpler – cut 13 days into 1 night, instead of waiting for 13 days. year.
Before this decree was issued, in 1917, the Russian Empire still used the old calendar (Julian calendar), so major events in this year were deviated from the actual time. For example, the Russian October Revolution actually took place on November 7 (according to the new calendar) and later commemorative activities in the Soviet Union and Russia both took place on this day, but according to the old Russian calendar, that is October 25th.