Editing International Fixed Calendar (section)

== History ==
[[Lunisolar calendar]]s, with fixed weekdays, existed in many ancient cultures, with certain holidays always falling on the same dates of the month and days of the week.

The idea of a 13-month perennial calendar has been around since at least the middle of the 18th century. Versions of the idea differ mainly on how the months are named, and the treatment of the extra day in leap year.

The "Georgian calendar" was proposed in 1745 by [[Hugh Jones (professor)|Reverend Hugh Jones]], an American colonist from Maryland writing under the pen name Hirossa Ap-Iccim.<ref>Hirossa Ap-Iccim, [http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ilej/image1.pl?item=page&seq=1&size=1&id=gm.1745.7.x.15.x.x.377 "An Essay on the British Computation of  Time, Coins, Weights, and Measures"] ''The Gentleman's Magazine,'' 15 (1745): 377-379</ref> The author named the plan, and the thirteenth month, after [[George II of Great Britain|King George II of Great Britain]]. The 365th day each year was to be set aside as Christmas. The treatment of leap year varied from the Gregorian rule, however, and the year would begin closer to the [[winter solstice]]. In a later version of the plan, published in 1753, the 13 months were all renamed for Christian saints.

In 1849 the French philosopher [[Auguste Comte]] (1798–1857) proposed the 13-month ''[[Positivist Calendar]]'', naming the months: [[Moses]], [[Homer]], [[Aristotle]], [[Archimedes]], [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]], [[Paul of Tarsus|St Paul]], [[Charlemagne]], [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]], [[Johannes Gutenberg|Gutenberg]], [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], [[René Descartes|Descartes]], [[Frederick II of Prussia|Frederic]] and [[Xavier Bichat|Bichat]]. The days of the year were likewise dedicated to "saints" in the Positivist [[Religion of Humanity]]. Positivist weeks, months, and years begin with Monday instead of Sunday. Comte also reset the year number, beginning the era of his calendar (year 1) with the Gregorian year 1789. For the extra days of the year not belonging to any week or month, Comte followed the pattern of Ap-Iccim (Jones), ending each year with a festival on the 365th day, followed by a subsequent feast day occurring only in leap years.

Whether Moses Cotsworth was familiar with the 13-month plans that preceded his International Fixed Calendar is not known. He did follow Ap-Iccim (Jones) in designating the 365th day of the year as Christmas. His suggestion was that this last day of the year should be designated a Sunday, and hence, because the following day would be New Year's Day and a Sunday also, he called it a Double Sunday.{{sfn | Cotsworth | 1905 | p=i}} Since Cotsworth's goal was a simplified, more "rational" calendar for business and industry, he would carry over all the features of the Gregorian calendar consistent with this goal, including the traditional month names, the week beginning on Sunday (still traditionally used in US, but uncommon in Europe and in the [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] [[ISO week date#Advantages|week standard]], starting their weeks on Monday), and the Gregorian leap-year rule.

To promote Cotsworth's calendar reform the International Fixed Calendar League was founded in 1923, just after the plan was selected by the [[League of Nations]] as the best of 130 calendar proposals put forward.<ref>Duncan Steel, ''Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar'' (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000), page 309</ref> [[Sandford Fleming|Sir Sandford Fleming]], the inventor and driving force behind worldwide adoption of [[standard time]], became the first president of the IFCL.<ref>Moses Bruines Cotsworth, ''Calendar Reform'' (London: The International Fixed Calendar League, 1927), Preface.</ref> The League opened offices in [[London]] and later in [[Rochester, New York]]. [[George Eastman]], of the [[Eastman Kodak Company]], became a fervent supporter of the IFC, and instituted its use at Kodak. Some organized opposition to the proposed reform came from rabbi [[Joseph Hertz]], who objected to the way that the [[Shabbat|Jewish Sabbath]] would move throughout the week.<ref>{{cite news|title=Calendar Reform and Joseph Herman Hertz|url=http://www.jta.org/2012/02/24/the-archive-blog/calendar-reform-and-joseph-herman-hertz|access-date=October 4, 2019|newspaper=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]]|date=February 24, 2012|author=Benjamin J. Elton}}</ref> [[Sol Bloom]] criticised the scheme in the House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-yhW_jXDsUgC&pg=PA2698|last=Bloom|first=Sol|title=Calendar reform|journal=Congressional Record|volume=71|issue=3|date=11 June 1929|location=Washington|pages=2698–2715}}</ref> The International Fixed Calendar League ceased operations shortly after the calendar plan failed to win final approval of the League of Nations in 1937.<ref>''Journal of Calendar Reform'' volume 16, number 4 (1944): 165-66</ref>