The chronological time is one that can be measured by a timer; allows you to place facts or events at specific times. Measure short periods of time, such as seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, or decades. On the contrary, historical time measures long periods of history and allows explanations of causes and consequences of historical events.
While in the scientific world chronological time is of utmost importance, in human society preference has been given to historical time, since human actions have had more relevance in the social change they produce, than in the moment in which they take place..
Only in the modern era has greater importance been given to chronological time, since societies changed their way of living from when their activities depended more on sunrise and the weather, to adapt to the use of hours to measure their activities, calendars and establishment of fixed periodic routines (vacations, work hours, lunch hours, etc.).
Since this new model brought advantages in terms of increased productivity and social division, it was very widely spread and disseminated.
From ancient times, time was intimately linked to religion. In fact, the names of the days and months are dedicated to deities such as the sun and the moon, and from the Christian era, the first day of the week is called the one dedicated to God.
Calendars
The moon, our natural satellite, has marked -from the beginning- our society. Its periodic appearance and its different phases influenced the most primitive societies to use its existence as a method of measuring units of time.
Calendars, as a way of measuring elapsed time, use the resources of the concepts of original time, position of events in a before or after, and units of measurement to compare the duration of events or the time elapsed since their occurrence.
The zero point or origin coincides with a moment of high historical relevance that is established as the beginning of the count. The birth of Christ or a monarch are often used as initiating moments.
Once the initial moment is established, the events are located in a before and after it.
Units of measure are set to count how much time has elapsed since the occurrence of an event. Periodic natural phenomena are usually taken into consideration.
29 day calendar
This is how the first months arise from the count of the 29 days it takes to complete the lunar cycle. Greeks and Jews established the length of the year in twelve months, which brought a small difference of the real time in about 10 to 12 days.
With small complements altering the number of days in some months, the duration would be adjusted.
It was not until 1582 when the major modification was made, when Pope Gregory advanced the calendar 10 days to adjust it and eliminated the end of the century as leap.
The repetition of seasons and climatic phenomena over the years shaped society, adapting it to agrarian cycles, shaping the personality of society.
The ordering and regulation of time became a social norm, which was administered at first by religion, then by monarchies and finally by governments, thus dictating working hours, rest days and vacations. or free time, holidays, etc.
The governments took advantage of the regulation of time, imposing regulations regarding the collection of taxes, adapting military mobilizations and economic relations to the seasons of the year, giving a false sense of control of time, when the reality is that everything is regulated by nature.
Types of calendars
The Roman calendar consisted of ten lunar months of 30 and 31 days, it was a lunar calendar and began from March to December. Later, two more months were added, its duration being 29 and 31 days alternatively.
Finally, the Julian calendar was established in eleven months of 30 and 31 days and one of 29 (February) which every four years would receive an additional day.
Januarius: Dedicated to Janus
Februarius: Dedicated to Feebruus
Martius: Dedicated to Mars
Aprilis: (no consensus has been reached)
Maius: Dedicated to Maya
Iunonis: Dedicated to Juno
Quintilis: Fifth month. Later transformed to Iulius in homage to Julius Caesar.
Sextilis: Sixth month, then modified to Augusto by Cesar Augusto.
September: Seventh month.
October: Eighth month.
November: Ninth month.
December: Tenth month.
Calendar start
In Ancient Egypt, the beginning of reigns indicated the beginning of the calendar. Similarly, in Mesopotamia for the duration of the reigns.
In Ancient Greece, for the holding of the Olympics and through the magistracies.
The Romans used the founding of Rome as the start of the calendar.
The Christian era defines the beginning of the world as the origin, and the birth of Jesus Christ as the intermediate point between before and after.
The Jews define their beginning in the creation of the world and establish it in 3761 years before Christ.
The Islamists define their beginning in the Hegira, which occurred in the year 622 AD
Perception of time
In the beginning of the history of thought, philosophers expounded their ideas about the concept of time. Time was thought to be the magnitude of measurement before and after an event occurred. Others thought that it is a moving image that allows us to understand the idea of change and duration.
Since ancient times, the difference between physical time, which can be measured and has regularity, and social time, produced by human activity and subject to variations and alterations, has been perceived.
With Isaac Newton the idea of the absolute of time was reinforced, but including it as one more dimension of the universe, added to space. This sum of moments united by an imperceptible interval formed the reality of the present moment.
Critical of this idea was Kant (1724-1804) who thought that time existed only because of man's ability to perceive it.
For his part, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) demonstrated that time was relative, linked to space and movement, and that the speed of the observer could expand or contract time.
These ideas helped define the fundamental difference between chronological and historical time. Chronological time is continuous, while social time is not.
References
- Blanco, A. (2007). The representation of historical time in the textbooks of the first and second years of compulsory secondary education. Doctoral Thesis, University of Barcelona.
- Definition of chronological. Recovered from: definicion.de.
- The temporal dimension: the social and historical time. Recovered from: Dondeycuando.wikispaces.com.