Forget about when Christmas begins! When does New Year’s happen? The calendar says it is New Year’s, but I am not sure we can trust our calendars. See, for most of our history, no one knew what the date was—or even what time it was! At least, that is my big take-away from a book a friend co-wrote entitled, The New Millennium Manual: A Once and Future Guide (cowritten in 1999 by Robert Clouse, Richard Pierard and our good friend, Bobby Hosack). Here’s my summary of the story. Apparently, the earliest calendars were all based on the moon. People looked up; and when they saw the new crescent moon, they began a new month. But the lunar calendar was almost 11 days shorter than a solar calendar; and so to keep up with the sun, they had to add an extra leap month every three years. But there were other