Preserving The French Republican Calendar

Today is Nonidi, the 19th of Nivôse, Year 217 - (better known as Thursday, January 8th, 2009)

The French Republican Calendar
On October 24, 1793 the recently formed Republic of France abandoned the widely used Gregorian Calendar in favor of an entirely new, rational model - The French Republican Calendar (FRC). The FRC was the official calendar of France for only thirteen years. On January 1, 1806, Napoleon re-established the Gregorian Calendar, ending a bold experiment in man's effort to redefine his world.

The FRC was a radical effort - it carried the ideals of the new republic directly into the daily life of every citizen. It was an artistic expression, an effort to make calendar names relate to the world of Nature, an attack on Catholicism (and religion in general), an effort to uplift and support a growing agricultural class, an attempt at decimal time and a basic functional calendar.

Under the direction of mathemeticians, painters, and most famously, poet Philippe-François Fabre d'Eglantine, the Year was restructured - the names of the months were poetic and related to each other and their season. As d'Eglantine himself wrote "...the effect of these names is such that by merely saying the name of the month one will clearly feel three things and how they are connected: the type of season; the temperature; and the state of vegetation." The names of the days of the week were functional, in accordance to the adoption of the more rational decimal system. The names of the days of the year were designed to focus the common thought on basics and beauty of Nature and Agriculture.

Each season was divided into three months, the names months grouped by a common ending:

SPRING (PRINTEMPS)
Germinal - (Month for Seeds to Sprout)
Floréal - (Month of Blooms/Flowering)
Prairial - (Month of Meadows) SUMMER (ETÉ)
Messidor - (Month of Harvest)
Thermidor - (Month of Heat)
Fructidor - (Month of Fruits)
AUTUMN (AUTOMNE)
Vendémiaire - (Month of Vintage/Grape Harvest)
Brumaire - (Month of Mist/Fog)
Frimaire - (Month of Frost/Cold)
WINTER (HIVER)
Nivôse - (Month of Snow/Leveling)
Pluviôse - (Month of Rain/Wet Season)
Ventôse - (Month of Winds)

(The months gained derisive nicknames immediately in Britain as Showery, Flowery, Bowery, Wheaty, Heaty, Sweety, Slippy, Nippy, Drippy, Freezy, Wheezy and Sneezy).

The months were all 30 days long, and were divided into three "decades" of 10 days. Each of these days of the decade had a name, derived from the Latin roots for "first", "second", etc. The names were Primidi, Duodi, Tridi, Quartidi, Quintidi, Sextidi, Septidi, Octidi, Nonidi and Decadi (the day of rest). Each day of the year also had a name, akin to the Catholic calendar having each day represented by a saint (yes, like Saint Patrick's Day). So for us, we might say "Saint Patrick's Day, Sunday, the 17th of March, 2002", someone using the FRC would say "Sylve, Septidi, the 27th of Ventôse, Year 210"

The evenly-divided months created a few leftover days (five days usually, six on leap years). Called the Jours complementaires or the Sansculottides ("the days of the poor") they were treated as Holidays, or Festival days and were named: Jour de la Vertu (Virtue), Jour de Genie (Genius), Jour de Travail (Work), Jour de la Raison (Reason), Jour de la Recompense (Reward) and Jour de la Revolution (Revolution).

The First Day of the Year was always the autumn equinox (the 1st of Vendémiaire). The FRC was signed into law in November, in the Gregorian year 1793 - but was dated backwards to 1792, so when the it was adopted, they were well into Year II of the new calendar.

After Napoleon dismantled the Republic, he reinstated the Gregorian Calendar in 1806. Many supported the switch back, including those who enjoyed one day off every seven instead of every ten, and international businessmen, who had trouble with the varying differences between the FRC and the rest of the world. There were supporters though, and the calendar has resurfaced in small ways many times in the past 200 years. Though it was not a success, the ambition and vision of such a calendar was and still is amazing.

Links:

Here is a scan of the original Legislation that brought the FRC into being.

An image of a printed calendar from Year II (1793). The seated figure is Liberty, or Marianne, a treasured symbol of the Revolution.

Below is the calendar for 1793 (Year II), listing all the names of the Days of the year. the first table is French, the second is a (rough) English translation - many of the names that appear to be untranslated are in fact the proper names of various shrubs or flowers.

Year II (in French)

AUTOMNE

HIVER

PRINTEMPS

ETÉ

Vendémiaire

Brumaire

Frimaire

Nivôse

Pluviôse

Ventôse

Germinal

Floréal

Prairial

Messidor

Thermidor

Fructidor