The Oxford Companion to the Year (Oxford Companions) Book

The Oxford Companion to the Year is one of those splendid volumes that should have a permanent place in every personal reference library, next to your well-thumbed Brewer's. The main body of the book gives a huge amount of historical and folkloric information on everyday of the year (including, yes, 30th February, which has happened three times), on the days of the week, months and seasons, and on the major feast days and festivals in a wide variety of different cultures. This is the section that readers will find most fascinating; its 658 pages provide endless browsing. The second part concentrates more on the making of calendars over the centuries: how our own complex calendar evolved with its irregular month lengths and its rules for when leap year occur, plus details of the calendars of many other cultures--Chinese, Hindu, Muslim and many more--all trying to find a regular system which can cope with the fact that the roughly 29½ day lunar month and the roughly 365¼ day solar year simply can't be matched. Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens must be congratulated on the huge amount of work this book must have taken, with such splendid results. --David V BarrettRead More