How do you describe a better world? It's a foundational question isn't it, a question that implies profound intent on your part. It's hard to know where even to start. What exactly are our goals? If asked, I would say we should standardize the world in a ways that make it easier to share, in ways that further our ability to engage with it cooperatively? And can we borrow from what we currently have going? If it ain't broke etc etc.
That combination zeal for progress and slight technical laziness is the spirit behind the creation of the French Republican Calendar. It was a product of a time when the people of France were actively dismantling the symbols of centuries-old oppression from the church and monarchy. It symbolized the revolutionary mindset, a mindset characterized by the desire to demolish the old world and construct a new more peaceful society free from the influence of gods or kings. It was a conscious effort to strip away hierarchies and provide a simple representation of a year's worth of time. It was capital letter Enlightenment Rationality to the absolute highest degree.
And because this is maximum Enlightenment Rationality the commission to create this proto-metric calendar included a chemist, a mathemetician & astronomer, a mathemetician, and an astronomer. It was important, after all, that this new way of viewing the year not only accurately describe the material world, but that it was compatible with the other proto-metric measurements being tested at the time. What they came up with was a differently divided Gregorian calendar, so what I find particularly interesting are the contributions of the two other men: the "poet, actor and playwright Fabre d'Églantine (who invented the names of the months) with the help of André Thouin (gardener at the Jardin des plantes of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris)". They devised delightful way to wrest the focus away from the looming facade of authority of ancient emperors and the church. Renaming the twelve months to be evocative of the seasons (and also giving Fabre a chance to paint semi-topless Enlightenment waifus for each of them) and changing all the saints days entirely. Now, every day would celebrate not a saint but some object, plant, mineral, animal, or even the occasional concept that would be familiar with a typical peasant living somewhere near Paris. And with ten day "decades" replacing seven day weeks, each month could be three decades and each decade could have its own repeating pattern for its daily object/plant/mineral/animal/concept of honoré (even the concept of Honor).
It was an absolute massive failure. First, it didn't mesh well with the other new measurements, like Decimal Time which kept getting out of sync. The downstream effects of poor granular timekeeping is that calendar level timekeeping also starts to suffer. It also meant that workers had to wait longer before getting fewer days of rest. Sure, there's a five day long "sansculottides" celebration, but only every ten days? It wasn't very useful to people who had contact with anybody not using this calendar, causing a need for frequent conversion. And the most charming part, the seasonally relevant l'object honoré didn't matter let alone exist in the far flung remnants of empire this calendar was inflicted upon. Only the bloody enforcement of Robespierre could keep it in use for the roughly twelve years it was. Only the beauitful and idealistic Paris Commune brought it back in 1871, but abandoned it after only eighteen days, not even two "weeks".
I hold a deep admiration for this calendar. It reminds me to shake myself from the fetters of the old world when I try to envision a new one. It inspires me to consider how I can incorporate its ethos into my own local context What calendar would describe the seasonality of my area, and is that even useful? And of course each day, it encourages me to reflect on the significance of that day's item and its personal meaning to me. In the introduction to her French Republican Wall calendar Ursula Lawrence touches on the elegance of the seasonal focus of the calendar.
The authors of the original calendar thought carefully about when to honor each item. If they did it right, this version should at least be somewhat predictive of what will come into season when. For example, rhubarb almost always appears in the grocery store within a week of Rhubarb Day. Tulips, violets, and lilacs also tend to appear in sync. And for those of us living in northern climes, there is something truly appropriate about assigning coal, peat, and manure (yes, manure) to the depths of January.
I hope you embrace the revolutionary spirit and let the French Republican Calendar ignite your imagination, inviting you ponder a world where time becomes a catalyst for progress and enlightenment. Also, we invite you to celebrate humble honeysuckle, at least for today.
The Republican Calendar consisted of 12 months, each with 30 days, totaling 360 days in a year. The months were given names that reflected the natural world and seasonal activities. For example, names such as Vendémiaire (Grape Harvest), Brumaire (Mist), and Thermidor (Heat) were used. Right now it's Prairial (Meadows).
To account for the remaining days in the solar year, the Republican Calendar included five or six additional days called "complementary days" or "sansculottides." These days were not assigned to any particular month and were dedicated to festivities and celebrations.
Each month was further divided into three ten-day weeks called "decades." The days of the week were named after ordinal position, such as Primidi (First day), Duodi (Second day), Tridi (Third day), and so on. The current "weekday" is Tridi. The last day of each decade, called "Decadi," was considered a day of rest and reflection. Every 5th day celebrates an animal and each 10th celebrates a human-made artifact. The sansculottides each celebrate one intangible facet of the revolutionary spirit.
