Photography by JonÆon

Carnival in Venice Æon Figure 8

CalendarApril 2009 -March 2010

Calendar Design & Photographyby JonÆon, All rights reserved

©2009 Æon, Patent Pendingwww.aeon.com

2009 APRIL

8

23wed

thu

17

20

18

19

21

22

7

6

543

2mon

wed

tuefri

thusat

frisun

satsun

tue mon

9

10

14

24

25

29

wed

thu

fri

tue

fri

sat

mon

sat

sun

tuemon

16

15

30

1

wed

wed

thu

thu

sun 111326

2728 12

Æon’s Figure 8 Calendar

2009 MAY

1

2 6

54

3

7

8

9

1013

1112

14

15

16

17

31

18

30

19

2928

27

23

21 20

24

26

25

22

fri

fri

fri

fri

sat

sat

sat

sat

sat

fri

sunmon

sun

sun

mon

tue

tue

wed

thu

sun

montue

wed

thu

thu wed

mon

tue

thu

wed

sun

Æon’s Figure 8 Calendar

2010 MARCH

1

26

543

7

8

9

1013

1112

14

15

16

17

31

18

30

19

2928

27

23

21 20

24

26

25

22

mon

mon

mon

mon

tue

tue

tue

tue

tue

mon

wed

thu

wed

wed

thu

fri

frisat

sun

wed

thufri

sat

sun

sun sat

thu

fri

sunsat

wed

Vernal Equinox

Æon’s Figure 8 Calendar

JonÆon’s Figure 8 Calendars offer aninnovation in the representation oftime, a transformation of the blocksof days and months into a seamlessflow chart mapped on the design of afigure 8 ...time’s symbol for infinity.

Figure 8 Calendars are easy to use asthe dates and days of the week cor-respond with the standard calendarand the innovative design offersmore available area for notations.

Figure 8 Calendars frees New YearsDay from a wintry exile imposed byJulius Caesar and the CatholicChurch, and welcomes New YearsDay’s return to its origin on the firstday of Spring.

In synchronization with the Earth‘sseasons, many millions of people, incultures worldwide, still celebrate thebeginning of the new year on March20, as in the Figure 8 Calendars.

ÆON Calenders are published by Environmental Arts & Research, Inc,,

a 501c3 arts and education corporation.

Calendar Design & Photography by JonÆon

©2009 Æon, All rights reservedPatent Pending

www.aeon.comISBN# 978-0-9797086-8-8

“With JonÆon everything happensat several times its usual intensity.Colors are brighter, light is morebrilliant, people more radiant, timeseems suspended, vitality becomesimmense, with a great sense of ela-tion, fun, possibility, limitlessnessand freedom.”

Norman BrysonProfessor of Art History

University of California San Diego

Rome’s Shell Game of Time

The New Year starts on January1, right? That’s true now, but theconvention of celebrating NewYear’s Day on January 1 is a rel-atively recent affair. For most ofits history the West followed adifferent tradition, with theNew Year commencing at thetime of the Spring Equinox,around March 21.

Throughout the middle Ages,March was when the new cycleof time began, following thenatural rhythm of the seasons. Itwas a tradition whose roots wentback to the oldest calendars inrecorded history: the ancientHindus, the Persians, the Baby-lonians—all these culturesviewed the year in the sameway.

Then something happened. Ithappened first in Rome, wherefor centuries the RomanCatholic church had beenwrestling with the problem ofdefining its own calendar ofFeast Days and high holidays,which in the absence of clearlyestablished principles tended to‘drift’ to an eventually alarmingdegree (Easter was the most un-stable of all).

The solution was to adopt anew calendar, based on theprecedent established by JuliusCaesar—and in the Julian calen-dar the New Year kicked off inJanuary, the month dedicatedto the double-faced deityJanus, one face looking back-wards into the old year and oneface looking forward into thenew.

In 1582, Pope Gregory issued aPapal decree requiring adoptionand observance of the new,“Gregorian” calendar by allcountries and individuals withallegiance to the RomanCatholic Church. Those whodid not abide by the changewere ridiculed as APRIL FOOLS,targets for the wit of those whofound amusement in sendingfoolish gifts or in ceremonies ofmockery on the first of April.

One by one, the Catholic na-tions of Europe followedRome’s orders: Venice, the HolyRoman Empire, Spain, Portugal,France – all these had changedover to the Roman system by1600. Protestant countriesdragged their feet for over acentury (Sweden, Scotland and

the Netherlands were the last tojoin). But even they finally gavein, and by 1700 Pope Gregory’scalendar had become the stan-dard throughout the west. Andnot only the West: Japan(1875), China (1912 & 1925)and other Asian countriesadopted the Gregorian systemin conjunction with the tradi-tional calendar of their cultures.

Thus it came to pass that theyear as defined by the RomanEmperor Julius Caesar – andthen the Papacy—became thestandard d for the whole mod-ern world. Quite a victory forRome! Yet it is worth remem-bering that things were not al-ways this way, and that manycultures commence the year atthe Vernal Equinox (true for theIslamic calendar, for Nepal,Myanmar, Bahái, and through-out India). The Spring New Yearis in fact still being celebrated bybillions of people around theworld.

©2009 Æonall rights reserved

www.aeon.com