A New Year’s History Lesson from a Whovian

Exploring Interfaith New Year Traditions with Doctor Who

Happy New Year! In the Unification tradition, Feb. 8, 2016 is God’s Day, the first day of the year in the Heavenly Calendar. What’s the heavenly calendar? Well, one day in February 2010, Unificationists watched a live broadcast from Korea, and suddenly it was January 1 of Year One! They lost over a month (not to mention more than 2,000 years!) when Father and Mother Moon initiated the Heavenly Calendar. Crazy, right?

Well, it’s not as strange as you think. In 1752, the Colonists and England went to sleep on September 2 and when they woke up, it was September 14. British Parliament finally agreed to use the Gregorian calendar that we use today—200 years after most of Europe already was using it. There were rumors that people in England rioted to bring back those missing 11 days, while in America, Benjamin Franklin wrote, “It is pleasant for an old man to be able to go to bed on September 2, and not have to get up until September 14.”

January 1 is New Year’s Day in the Gregorian calendar, which was a revision of the Julian calendar introduced by Roman Emperor Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. Leap years were added to make sure that Easter would always fall in the spring. Pope Gregory XIII introduced the new calendar in 1582 because he was concerned that Easter kept starting further and further away from March 21 by Julius Caesar’s miscalculation. Most of Western Europe, with its devotion to the Catholic Church, quickly adopted this new Gregorian calendar. However, Britain and its territories held out, believing that it was a plot from the Pope against their Protestant movement.

Despite the current widespread use of the Gregorian calendar, many regions and religions still use their own calendars for religious purposes. A few that I would like to talk about are the Mayan, the Hebrew, the Buddhist, the Islam and the Unificationist calendars. We have a lot to cover, so let’s go. You pop out of the library where you’ve been studying all day, and BAM! You run into the Doctor. Long story short, you help him save the world and he decides to take you on a real history adventure.

First stop: The TARDIS has taken you to the ancient Mayan civilization.

Mayan

After a crazy and confusingly awesome ride, you step out and find you are in the ancient civilization of the Mayans. It’s that time of year again: Thank the god of the year and begin worship for the next god in the rotation. The Mayans have the oldest calendar known today. They also famously “predicted” that the world would end on December 21, 2012. Anyone remember that? People were going crazy, but what they didn’t know about that “prediction” is that the Mayans only calculated the end of their Long Count calendar. The Mayans used three cyclical calendars: the Tzolkin, the Haab and the Long Count. These three calendars were used simultaneously in a hieroglyphic wheel. The Tzolkin was their sacred calendar, lasting 260 days; it was used to mark religious ceremonies. The Haab was a fixed 365 days, which was their secular or day-to-day calendar. The Long Count was a longer coverage of the world—2,880,000 days—causing doomsday panic throughout 2012. The Mayans believed the current world would be cleansed at the end of the Long Count calendar and begin anew, not that the entire world would end. We are currently in its fourth Long Count cycle out of 13. The Mayans no longer use this calendar, so you and the Doctor just celebrate the new year’s arrival by the Gregorian calendar, which the Mayans have done ever since the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.

It’s been fun learning about culture like you never knew before, but you find out that the god of that year is actually an alien hell-bent on taking over the earth, so you and the Doctor save the day and decide to head for a not-so-crazy culture.

Next stop: The TARDIS has successfully taken you to Jerusalem in the Middle Ages with minimal delay.

Old medieval Middle East city on the hill

You pop out of the TARDIS and find that you are now in Israel, awaiting Rosh Hashanah. You use a lunar calendar letting you know when to mark the new year with fasting and prayer. Your calendar is only 354 days long and began when God created the world 5,776 years ago. To make sure that Rosh Hashanah still starts at the same time every year, you add an extra month every two to three years. By the time the Gregorian New Year’s Day will have rolled around, you already will have celebrated the new year with your family and synagogue.

After the Rosh Hashanah festivities, you and the Doctor get chased away because you asked some provocative questions about Jesus. Oops.

The TARDIS takes you to another planet. You run from aliens and just barely escape before launching back to Earth, to Laos, a Buddhist country, in 1300 or so.

Wat Ho Phra Keo (Altar of the Emerald Buddha), Vientiane, Laos

It’s a crisp 80 degrees in Southeast Asia, and people believe that you are a strange-looking Buddhist. You are attempting to reach nirvana just as the Buddha has. You count the days in accordance with the lunar calendar, just as they do in China, Japan or Korea. After a switch from the old Hindu calendar, you now celebrate Buddha with both the Gregorian calendar’s new year and the Buddhist new year (sometime in April, depending on the lunar cycle). Now the new year, for you, means praying, washing statues of Buddha at the temple and reflecting on how to become like Buddha and reach nirvana. Based on the Buddhist calendar, your current year is 5,760 … or so. For you as a Buddhist, the new year represents reflecting on your past year (and lives) and trying to rectify your mistakes.

Not long after getting comfortable, you and the Doctor spring into action to stop a time catastrophe that saves the country.

The TARDIS manages to take you to a Muslim country at some time after 622.

The Egyptian pyramids with desert

Hopping out of the TARDIS, you find yourself in Muslim Egypt. Your new year begins with reflection, prayer and fasting. The new year starts on the date when Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina. It’s 1437 right now on the Islamic calendar. The Islamic year started in mid-October, depending on the lunar cycle of 354.36 days, and you spent your month reflecting and in prayer. The Egyptians looked like they were in repentance for their ancient pharaohs’ cruelty toward the Israelites.

However, before you could enjoy the peacefulness of Muslim culture, aliens show up again and you hurry back into the TARDIS.

Last stop: The early days of the Unification movement.

C-4

Reverend Moon, in 2010, announced the beginning of the Heavenly Calendar called Cheong Gi. The calendar really went into effect in 2013, which marked the first year of Cheon Il Guk (God’s Kingdom), making 2016 the fourth year of Cheon Il Guk. The first day of the year is called God’s Day, or Heavenly Parent's Day, and usually falls sometime in February, but as you and the Doctor emerge from the TARDIS you realize you’re stuck in 1960.

You land just in time to see Father and Mother Moon’s marriage ceremony. You witness their Holy Marriage Blessing with your own eyes, the start of a worldwide movement and tradition that has brought millions of couples together before God. Decades later, Father Moon would announce the beginning of the new Heavenly Calendar. Experiencing the most spiritually intense Divine Principle lectures given by Father Moon in his young form is the most inspiring thing you’ve ever seen.

During a Sunday service, it comes across your attention that something is afoot. It’s the Great Intelligence, who’s come to battle it out with the Doctor once again. The Doctor prevails and drops you off back at home, in 2016. You’ve learned much about the different cultures that you’ve visited—from earth and not from earth. One thing is for sure: No matter how different we are, or where we come from, the beginning of a new year is a time when we reconnect with God and celebrate traditions originated by our ancestors.