For Years People have been Confusing Date of Old New Year’s Day: Armenian Church

The Old New Year falls on Jan. 14 not Jan. 13, the Araratian Patriarchal Diocese of the Armenian Holy Apostolic Church reminded the public in a press release.

“For years, nearly all the TV stations confuse the New Year’s Day of the old calendar. Again we remind you and ask that you commit to memory that the new year as per the old calendar is marked on Jan. 14, which is equivalent to Jan. 1,” reads the statement.

The Diocese notes that the difference between New Year’s Day as per the Gregorian calendar and that as per the Julian calendar is 13 days; thus. Jan. 14 is equivalent to Jan. 1 and Jan. 13 is equivalent to Dec. 31.

Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582 when it was noticed that by the 16th century, the (old) Julian calendar had accumulated an error of 10 days, resulting in the Spring equinox that year arriving on Mar. 11 instead of Mar. 21. The Pope introduced the reformed calendar in October, when on Oct. 4 he announced that the next day would be Oct. 15, adding the 10 days that were erroneously missed between the years 325 and 1582.

Note, the difference between these two calendars accumulates at the rate of about three days every four centuries. In the middle of the 21st century, the difference will become 14 days.