Day Numbering Debate
December 5 2007
Stu wrote:
Honestly, I'd be happy with any choice.
Or even the esoteric choice that all days between the traditional start of Solstmas and the start of the schlepping Solstmas be numbered in Hebrew or Aramaic. In reverse.
So Solstmas 1 is always December 17, Solstmas 9 is always Christmas. If Solstmas starts before December 17, December 16 is Solstmas Aleph, December 15 is Solstmas Bet, and so on.
So, for example, this year :
Nov 22 : Solstmas Prolegomena Nov 23 : Solstmas Hydrogen Nov 24 : Solstmas Helium Nov 25 : Solstmas Lithium Nov 26 : Solstmas Beryllium Nov 27 : Solstmas Boron Nov 28 : Solstmas Carbon Nov 29 : Solstmas Nitrogen Nov 30 : Solstmas Oxygen Nov 31 : Solstmas Fluorine Nov 1 : Solstmas Neon Nov 2 : Solstmas Sodium Nov 3 : Solstmas Magnesium Nov 4 : Solstmas Aluminium Dec 5 : Solstmas Lamed Dec 6 :Solstmas Khaf Dec 7 :Solstmas Yod Dec 8 :Solstmas Tes Dec 9 :Solstmas Khet Dec 10 :Solstmas Zayin Dec 11 :Solstmas Vov Dec 12 :Solstmas Hay Dec 13 :Solstmas Dalet Dec 14 :Solstmas Gimel Dec 15 :Solstmas Bet Dec 16 :Solstmas Aleph Dec 17 : Solstmas 1 Dec 18 : Solstmas 2
etc
So the first days of Solstmas, every day can be a small gift involving the named element! Plus little lessons about valence shells, conversations about the collapse of wave equations, and cute little mascots introducing QM!
And then we're into the mystery days! Go traditional and talk about the Old Testament! Go Kabbalistic, and discuss the Sephira! Hey, it's *your* Days Of Squiggly Letters! (Teaching the kids Hebrew calligraphy would be quite pretty!) Gifts of money are popular during Schlepping Solstmas!
Finally, we're into Arabic numerals, but in a Roman font. Elegant. Clean. Modern and yet traditional.
I can smell the plum pudding curing!
Regarding complaints that Solstmas day-numbering could shift around, on Dec 5, 2007, Jon Hanna commented:
The fact that the numbered days of Solstmas shift dependant on assorted
permutations of Solstmas J (Oy Solstmas!) isn't a problem unique to
Solstmas. The numbered date of many other holidays--such as Easter,
Thanksgiving, Hindu New Year, (and that trouble-maker Hanukkah)--switch and
no one gets their panties in a bunch. Hell, considering that some Muslims
still take the date of the evening of the first ACTUAL sighting of the
crescent of the new moon as the first of the month, this means that if a
cloud obscures the moon a month may be extended. Stormy weather could cause
one Mussulman to count a different numbered day in a month than someone
living under clear skies would count. Solstmas could be much worse off than
it is.
I did point out last year on the wiki that the numbered dates as shown on the page don't apply during da schlep, and I amended that notation earlier this year to make it clear that 2008 was such a case.
Next year it all goes back to the tidy "regular" numbering scheme. Then 2009 and 2010 schlep, 2011 no, 2012 schleps (and really, after Solstmas 13 in 2012, we don't have to worry about any of it any more, right?), 2013 is a SUPER-schlepper, 2014 no, 2015 yes, 2016 no, 2017 yes, 2018 yes, 2019 no...
...you wanted to know for the next 25 years?
2020 yes, 2021 yes, 2022 no, 2023 yes, 2024 no, 2025 yes, 2026 yes, 2027 no, 2028 yes, 2029 yes, 2030 no, 2031 yes, 2032 yes.
That makes 16 shleppers in 25 years = a 64% schlep quotient. It is, perhaps, predictable that more of them would schlep than not, what with the determining factor being a Jewish holiday and all, heh...
Spooky coincidence that the Mayans end the 13th of their long-count cycles on Solstmas 13.
In any case, a fabulous Solstmas to all. :-)
-- Jon