Republican Calendar

French Republican date and decimal time in Paris Mean Time (t.m.P.):

The French Republican Calendar was used in France and countries controlled by France from 1793 to 1805. This calendar was very similar to the ancient Egyptian and Alexandrian calendars, which are still used in Ethiopia and by the Coptic Church. Not only did the Republican Calendar include a decimal week, but also decimal time. Months of the Republican Calendar were divided into three décades, of ten days each. There were twelve 30-day months in a year, plus five or six complementary days at the end. Years began on the autumnal equinox, the Year One being counted retroactively from September 22, 1792, the first day of the Republic.

There was a "rural" version, in which each day of the year also had its own name (just as the Catholic Church named days after saints in its calendar) the fifth day of the décade being named after an animal, the tenth day after a farm implement, and the rest after plants or minerals. The ten-day décades were very unpopular due to the division of the workweek and the conflict with Sundays, and stopped being used in Floréal an X (April 1802). The entire calendar was abandoned after Napolean became emperor, at the end of 1805.

Décades

The ten days of each décade were called:
Day Name Meaning Day Name Meaning
1 Primidi First Day 6 Sextidi Sixth Day
2 Duodi Second Day 7 Septidi Seventh Day
3 Tridi Third Day 8 Octidi Eight Day
4 Quartidi Fourth Day 9 Nonidi Ninth Day
5 Quintidi Fifth Day 10 Decadi Tenth Day

Months

The months are shown below. Starting dates are approximate, and may fall one or two days later in some years.

Autumn
Month Starts Name Meaning
1 Sep 22 Vendémiaire Vintage
2 Oct 22 Brumaire Fog
3 Nov 21 Frimaire Frost
Winter
Month Starts Name Meaning
4 Dec 21 Nivôse Snow
5 Jan 20 Pluviôse Rain
6 Feb 19 Ventôse Wind
Spring
Month Starts Name Meaning
7 Mar 21 Germinal Germination
8 Apr 20 Floréal Flowers
9 May 20 Prairial Prairies
Summer
Month Starts Name Meaning
10 Jun 19 Messidor Harvest
11 Jul 19 Thermidor Heat
12 Aug 18 Fructidor Fruits

The five or six days (depending on leap years) added to the end of the year were called:

Day Name Meaning
1 Jour de la vertu Virtue Day
2 Jour du génie Genius Day
3 Jour du travail Labor Day
4 Jour de l'opinion Opinion Day
5 Jour des récompenses Rewards Day
6 Jour de la révolution Revolution Day

Leap Years

Leap years, called sextile because they contained a sixth complementary day, occurred whenever two consecutive autumnal equinoxes happened to fall 366 days apart, as observed in Paris, which happened in the years III, VII and XI. A period of four years, at the end of which the addition of one day was necessary, was called a franciade, It was mistakenly assumed that a leap year would be skipped after about 129 years. However, had the calendar continued in use, there would have been five years between the leap years XV and XX. There was also a problem that when the equinox occurred close to midnight, the margin for error made it impossible to predict whether it would fall on the day before or after midnight.

In the year III, Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre proposed reformed rules similar to those of the Gregorian calendar, so that years divisible by 4 would be leap years, unless they were divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400. Also, the year 4000 would not be a leap year. This method has the benefit that Republican years start on the same day in the Gregorian calendar for long periods; for instance, all years start on September 22 between 1993 and 2092. However, Gilbert Romme was chosen to present the draft decree but he was sentenced to the guillotine and committed suicide shortly after, and the original equinox rule was followed, instead, with the first leap day occurring three months after his death. Jérôme Lalande would repeatedly advocate for the reform for the rest of the Revolution, to no avail.

Converting to Gregorian Calendar

The following table displays dates according to the Common Era for the first day of several years of the Republican Era, according to two methods of determining leap years:
  • Equinox: years start on the September equinox; only legal method during Revolution
  • Reformed: extra day added at end of years divisible by four, except most century years; proposed by Delambre, Romme, and Lalande.
ER CE Equinox Reformed
CCXXXI (231) 2022 Sept. 23 Sept. 22
CCXXXII (232) 2023 Sept. 23 Sept. 22 S
CCXXXIII (233) 2024 Sept. 22 Sept. 22
CCXXXIV (234) 2025 Sept. 22 S Sept. 22
CCXXXV (235) 2026 Sept. 23 Sept. 22
CCXXXVI (236) 2027 Sept. 23 Sept. 22 S
CCXXXVII (237) 2028 Sept. 22 Sept. 22
CCXXXVIII (238) 2029 Sept. 22 S Sept. 22
S: sextile (leap) year, extra day at end of year

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