Part I: the bulk of the book consists of a January-December
listing, divided by month and then by day. Each month begins with
information, for example etymology of the name and quotations,
dealing with the month in general, and each day contains
information on holidays and anniversaries, saints and their
legends, historical and social customs, and relevant quotations
from historical and modern texts. Part I ends with a discussion of
seasons,
months, terms, weeks, and days in general, a section on the Western
Church and the Orthodox Church years, and finally secular holidays
not tied to a specific day (e.g. Thanksgiving).
Part II: a more technical section on calendars, throughout history
and across the world, and chronology, including computus.
Bonnie Blackburn, a musicologist, received a Ph.D. from the
University of Chicago in 1970. She has written articles and books
on Renaissance music, and is General Editor of the series Monuments
of Renaissance Music (University of Chicago Press). She is a member
of the Faculty of Music at Oxford University.
Leofranc Holford-Strevens, a classicist, received a D.Phil. from
Oxford University in 1971. The author of Aulus Gellius (1988), he
is a desk-editor with Oxford University Press. He has had a
long-standing interest in calendars and chronologies.
`Superbly and magisterially surveys man's attempts to order time by
measuring it, dividing it neatly and giving significance to its
parts.'
Ian Finlayson
'Superbly and magisterially survey's man's attempts to order time
by measuring it.' - Iain Finlayson, The Times, 9.12.99
'Never, indeed, have reference books been better produced, more
amply illustrated and often more accessible than ever before. A
beautiful example is the Oxford Companion to the Year ... the
ultimate millennium calendar.' The Express on Sunday, 5.12.99
'Effective ....This is one of the few books you will never get fed
up with reading. Focus, January 2000
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