Today is the last day of the second decade of the 21st century. MMXIX gives way to MMXX. Tomorrow heralds the 2020th year of the Gregorian calendar and 2020 will also be a Leap Year.
The Gregorian calendar is the currently agreed upon timekeeping schedule used by the international community. It may seem as natural as the sunrise, but the calendar was not always this way. The Gregorian calendar was only adopted in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII.
The Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar which had been in effect since 46BC when it was made official by Julius Caesar. Prior to the Julian calendar, a calendar of lunar cycles was adhered to. The Gregorian calendar is based on the solar cycle but makes provisions for leap years, like 2020, to add a day every four years in order to remain accurate.
With the calendar being based on something as permanent as the sun, one can rest assured no other variation on the calendar can be expected in the foreseeable future. This, of course, could change, should the digitisation of our species reach unimaginable levels.
2020 will bring us the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the UEFA European Football Championships, the ICC World T20 competition, the World Expo in Dubai and the circus that is the US Presidential race.
Strap in, because tomorrow kicks off what promises to be an exciting year.
