By Tamie Dehler
Special to the Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — The bloody French Revolution lasted more than 10 years and, for a relatively brief period in French history, resulted in a new and different calendar. On Sept. 22, 1792, the French Legislative Assembly established a national Convention which immediately abolished the monarchy. This same day, which was also the autumnal solstice, was regarded as the first day of the first year of the new French republic.
This was reflected in the creation of a French Republican Calendar, also sometimes called the Revolutionary Calendar.
The goal of the new calendar was to create a new way of measuring time that was more aligned with a metric system. It was also designed to reflect reason and science rather than the church and the monarchy, which were considered to have been oppressive to the citizens of France. Mathematicians and poets were brought in to work on the new calendar.The actual calendar was adopted on Oct. 24, 1793. However, its start date went back retroactively to Sept. 22, 1792, considered Year One (I) of the Republic. Year I was established even though it was never used to date an event. Each successive year of the republic was designated by a Roman numeral.
The first day of each year was set at the autumnal solstice, even though this date was variable. There were still 12 months in the year, but they were not the months that we know. These new months were based on the seasons of the year and given names to reflect that: Vendémiaire “Vintage” (Sept. 22 - Oct. 21), Brumaire “Fog” (Oct. 22 - Nov. 20), Frimaire “Frost” (Nov. 21 - Dec. 20), Nivôse “Snowy” (Dec. 21 - Jan. 19), Pluviôse “Rainy” (Jan 20 - Feb. 18), Ventôse “Windy” (Feb. 19 - March 20), Germinal “Sprouting” (March 21 - April 19), Floréal “Flowery” (April 20 - May 19), Prairial “Pasture” (May 20 - June 18), Messidor “Harvest” (June 19 - July 18), Thermidor “Heat” (July 19 - Aug. 17), and Fructidor “Fruit” (Aug. 18 - Sept. 16).
Each month was exactly 30 days in length and consisted of three 10-day decades. The 7 days of the week were replaced with these 10 days of the decade: Primidi, Duodi, Tridi, Quastidi, Quintidi, Sextidi, Septidi, Octidi, Nonidi, Décadi (literally Oneday, Twoday, Threeday, Fourday, etc.). Each individual day of the year had a name, but instead of the saints’ days of the old Gregorian calendar, each day was named after an animal, plant, mineral, or tool. There were 365 or 366 days in the Republican Calendar. Since 12 months of 30 days resulted in only 360 days, the last 5 or 6 (in leap years) days of the year were days of celebration. These were named the celebrations of Virtue, Genius, Labor, Opinion, Rewards, and the Day of the Revolution (the leap day).
These calendar changes took place in France and all areas under French rule, including modern-day Belgium and Luxembourg, as wall as parts of the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. The Republican Calendar lasted from 1793 (Year II of the Republic) through 1805 (Year XIV of the Republic). It was used for recording all civil registrations and events in government records. I have run across this dating system when looking for online French birth, death, and marriage records.
This is what the dates look like. They are usually written out in French. Let’s take Christmas day, Dec. 25, 1800. Converted to the Republican Calendar this date is 4 Nivôse An IX, or “the 4th day of the Snowy month in the ninth year (of the Republic).” The name of the day would not be Christmas, but “soufre” (sulpher). If the Republican Calendar had continued until the present, today’s date would be 16 Ventôse An CCXVIII, or “the 16th day of the Windy month in the 218th year (of the Republic).” Convert any year at windhorst.org/calendar.
