Calendar as a Criterion in the Study of Culture

Abstract

This article considers the calendar as a relation of humanity to cos-mos and introduces it as an instrument for study of culture. It uses the concept of calendars and calendar systems as a criterion for recog nizing and forming culture. Starting from an assumption that the calendar is a structurally organized system of phenomena, events and holidays, it divides the time into days, months and years. Also, it is assumed that calendars are structural lists of collective memory within a society, whereby this memory is described in cyclical catego-ries—calendar (public) holidays, such as state and religious holidays, and non-calendar holidays, such as anniversaries of personal events. Furthermore, considering that the method of counting years used in calendars may dier in dierent cultures, it discusses how cultural self-awareness is expressed through the epoch of the calendar era. Finally, it explores how and to what extent calendars’ formation, interaction, and reforms, as well as their systems, reect cultural changes. The article concludes that the calendar and the calendar systems represent a specic cultural criterion of a society and serve as a source of cultural identity.