Clive D.W. Feather scripsit: > What, I wonder, did the various churches do about the Eleven Days?
Why, nothing. > They can hardly have been taken down and rebuilt at a slight angle, > after all. Orienting to saints' days was an architectural nicety, not a dogmatic requirement. Even the general principle of aligning the church to the East is frequently violated in modern times, where churches have to fit into city grids like Manhattan's (which is aligned to the long axis of the island, so that "north" (or "uptown") is about 30 degrees, not 0). The 1751 Act of Parliament that changed "the legal Supputation of the Year" explicitly excepted certain recurring dates from the change, so that they would occur on the same "natural Days" as before, and consequently on different "nominal Days": terms of courts and the dates of markets, fairs, opening and enclosing of commons, and payments of rents and annuities. (The dates specified in contracts for the delivery of goods, for the commencement and expiration of leases, and the legal majority age of individuals born before 1752-09-14 Gregorian, were similarly adjusted.) Consequently, the beginning of the tax year in England remained on Old New Year's Day, 25 March Julian, until 1900, when it should have been updated to April 7 Gregorian but wasn't. Oh well. (Full text: http://webexhibits.org/calendars/year-text-British.html) -- Work hard, John Cowan play hard, [EMAIL PROTECTED] die young, http://www.reutershealth.com rot quickly. http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
