Kalendae (or Kalends)
Created | Updated May 17, 2010
The Roman holiday of Kalendae
This article was written eleven days before the Kalends of April
As you can see from the date above, the Romans had a particularly odd way of keeping time, meaning they only had three dates per month. With only three dates per month, the days were referred to in relation to those dates.
The Kalendae or Kalends were the first day, the Ides were the fifteenth day, and the Nones were seventh. Because the months had different numbers of days, in some months the Idus fell on the thirteenth and the Nonae fell on the fifth. The Kalends however, always remained the first day, whatever the length of the month. The word Kalends is also where we get the word calendar from.
Kalends wasn’t a holiday. The Romans didn’t celebrate the start of each new month, but they did acknowledge it. Interest and debt were usually due on the Kalends.
This article was written eleven days before the Kalends of April
As you can see from the date above, the Romans had a particularly odd way of keeping time, meaning they only had three dates per month. With only three dates per month, the days were referred to in relation to those dates.
The Kalendae or Kalends were the first day, the Ides were the fifteenth day, and the Nones were seventh. Because the months had different numbers of days, in some months the Idus fell on the thirteenth and the Nonae fell on the fifth. The Kalends however, always remained the first day, whatever the length of the month. The word Kalends is also where we get the word calendar from.
Kalends wasn’t a holiday. The Romans didn’t celebrate the start of each new month, but they did acknowledge it. Interest and debt were usually due on the Kalends.
