The Republican Calendar
« This place and this day open a new period in the world's history. »
Goethe
Some history

The French Revolution didn't take place on the July 14, 1789, even if this date is the reference in history books. On this day, the Parisians only destroyed a symbol of the past with the Bastille Prison, where were hold only seven prisoners.

The Revolution had begun before, by dificult discussions beetween the diferent social classes (aristocracy, clergy, people).

After this day, the king Louis XVI was still the king, with less power than before: but France was still ruled by a monarchy. And the power passed to the hands of revolutionaries, who created a Constitutive Assembly, which purpose was to define the powers of everyone.

Valmy 1

The adepts of "The King as all the rights" were upset with the situation. In 1792, an army supported by the exiliated noblemen in Prussia came to France to put an end to the madness of the people. The decisive battle took place in Valmy, in the east of Paris, on september 20, 1792. The king soldiers, well trained, well armed, enfrented the revolutionary army comanded by the general Dumouriez: the Nation soldiers, bad trained, bad armed, but who had to lose more than their salary or their life: their freedom.

The royalists lost the battle, they were no so realistics.
The day after, on september 21, the National Convention did vote the abolition of the Monarchy. On september 22 was born the First French Republic.

Louis XVI
The king Louis XVI was in a bad mood on that day.
He never got very well after that and he ended up losing the head.

In this period was decided the creation of a calendar, known as the Republican Calendar, or the Revolutionary Calendar. Its firts day was the first day of the Republic. It became oficial on 1793, september 22, so it didn't had oficially a year I. It was created by the mathematician Romme and the astronoms Lalande, Delambre and Laplace. But the man who is considered as its true father is the poet Philippe François Nazaire Fabre, called Fabre d'Eglantine, who gave the names of months and days.

Fabre d'Eglantine, born in Carcassone on 1750, died beheaded, the same day as the famous Danton, on Germinal 17, year II (April 6, 1794). He left behind him some songs like "Il pleut, il pleut, bergère...", which is not the best he could do.

The legend says he cried when he was about to be beheaded, because a poem was unfinished. Danton was corrupt, but had an abrasive personality, so he told to Fabre:
“Don't worry, in one week, you'll have done thousands of lines...”

In French “vers” can mean “lines of poetry” or “worms”.

How does it works...

The republican year is made of 12 months of 30 days. Then come five or six complentary days. The date of the first day of the year I was the date of the autumn equinox in the northen hemisphere, so this event was chosen to determinate the begin of the year. That is why Vendemiaire 1st doesn't match every year with september 22.

Every month include three decades. The days of every decade are primidi, duodi, tridi, quartidi, quintidi, sextidi, septidi, octidi, nonidi, decadi.
The fall months are Vendemiaire (the grape harvest month), Brumaire (the haze month), Frimaire (the cold month). The winter months are Nivose (the snow month), Pluviose (the rain month), Ventose (the wind month). The spring months are Germinal (the germination month), Floreal (the flowers month), Prairial (the meadows month). The summer months are Messidor (the harvest month), Thermidor (the heat month) et Fructidor (the fruit month).
The complementary days were festive days to end the year: the Virtue Day, the Talent Day, the Labour Day, the Opinion Day, the Rewards Day, the Revolution Day.

Moreover, to forget all the saints of the Gregorian calendar, each day of the year was asociated to an animal, a plant or an agricultural tool...

Lets celebrate the carrot, and lets forget Saint-Gizmo...

The Church took its time to recognize that Copernicus, Galilee and so much more were not so wrong. All the religious hierarchies are playing to be late at every time, in the perspective of the rights of the Man ant the Woman; they like to be late in the History development; we have to choose to be ahead of our time. It's very simple: delay back your clocks and calendars, and when some people celebrate their year 2000, others their year 6000 or 1400, lets us be satisfied with a modest 209... It's smaller, it's less round, it's full of respectability...

Objection mister judge

For all of this people who would try to object that a week gives a festive day every seven days, and that the decades gives on every ten days, let's answer that at this moment, the political France is arguing about the 35 hours week, we propose the 20 hours decade, or less. Rest days from quintidi to nonidi, or more and... lets make Decadi a party day !

The 2000 year is not for tomorrow.