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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

As the Days, Months, Years, and “Leap Years” of Our Lives’ 
Turn 

Lami J. Glenn 
Department of Sociology 

California State University, Los Angeles 
 
ABSTRACT 
This analysis provides a nuanced understanding of how the 
calendar serves not only as a temporal reference but also as 
a tool that structures and influences societal and sociological 
dynamics. Beginning with the Roman Catholic Church’s 
role, I explore the integration and profound early influence 
of religion into the temporal structure, elucidating how its 
conceptualization has shaped societal norms and influenced 
some of humanity’s more important decision-making 
processes today. The interplay between religious traditions 
and temporal organization highlights the calendar’s dual 
function as a practical timekeeping tool and a cultural 
artifact. The Four Tetrads by Marshall McLuhan integrally 
offers a lens to analyze how changes in media and 
communication have influenced our perception and 
utilization of time as well as the effects of the calendar on 
contemporary societal issues. I then explore the 
interconnectedness of media evolution and the 
transformation of the calendar, emphasizing their reciprocal 
relationship in shaping societal values and priorities. 
Examining how the calendar dictates the rhythm of our lives, 
the theme investigates its role in determining the timing of 
critical events and decision-making processes. To offer a 
holistic perspective, I also trace the chronological changes in 
the calendar over the course of time, addressing key 
historical junctures that contributed to its evolution. From 
the Julian calendars to the Gregorian calendar’s introduction, 
the narrative encompasses the various adaptations and 
reforms that have shaped the calendar into its present form. 
 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and 
arbitrary values.” - Marshall McLuhan  

 
INTRODUCTION 

Today, the calendar undoubtedly influences and dictates 
every aspect of our lives. The calendar has the sociological 
abilities to reveal to many of us when we were born, what day(s) 
of the week we go to work and/or school, what day of the year 
Easter will be observed, our college graduation date, and other 
information that we, ourselves, may personalize on the calendar 
and hold dear to us. Instances such as when my next doctor’s 
appointment will be, being informed of the day my parking ticket 
is due, my nephew’s impending court date, and the ten-year 
anniversary of my mentor passing away, amongst other dates and 
events that the calendar enables us to keep track of. It is limitless 
to imagine the various ways and dictation that the calendar has on 
our lives in society on a daily basis. The communication medium, 
which in this case is the calendar, is an example of what 
communication theorist Marshall McLuhan (2007:129) theorized 
when he studied extensively on the communications medium 
effect on a society’s culture; “The medium is the message”. 
Culture is generally a derivative of a technological change rather 
than any independent factor. McLuhan contends that media is an 
extension of self; meaning that technologies have the ability to 
change how humans think, feel, act, and even how a person 
perceives and processes information. McLuhan is famously 
known for saying, “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools 
shape us” (2007:128). This is clearly evident as we look to apply 
McLuhan’s tetrad to the calendar. The calendar reconfigures 
thought and knowledge through McLuhan’s four laws of media, 
leading to the enhancement of time, the obsolescence and retrieval 
of astronomy and the reversal to chaos. His theory is significant 
both culturally and religiously as practiced here in the United 
States today. In applying the “Laws of Media” that McLuhan has 
developed, we then can commence to explore the sociological 
relationship between the causes and effects of media, which in 
itself is an interdisciplinary topic of great extension. To better 
understand the origins of its history, this has to be researched to 
be best contextualized. I will then critically examine how the four 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

effects of enhancement, obsolescence, retrieval, and reversal are 
utilized in correlation with the calendar. Furthermore, the uses of 
the effects apply today in numerous sociological ways, including 
some of the manners in which the calendar can be applied to one’s 
personal life, such the ways as a culture the calendar can specify 
how we go about our days by celebrating holidays or mourning 
the death of beloved artists and such. Throughout the phases of 
the year, we are societally informed by the calendar.  

 
HISTORY OF CALENDARS 

The Gregorian calendar, also known popularly as the 
western or Christian calendar was first introduced in 1582. 
However, it took more than 300 years for most countries to switch 
to the Gregorian calendar. This calendar was introduced by Pope 
Gregory XIII – and was subsequently named after him. Prior to 
this becoming the most commonly used calendar, the Julian 
calendar, named after Julius Caesar, was the calendar of use dating 
back as far as 45 B.C. Among the causes of concern for adopting 
a new calendar was, for one, the Julian calendar system 
miscalculated the length of the solar year by 11 minutes. As a 
result, this calendar fell out of sync with the seasons. Another 
reason, and the most important cause for concern with the Julian 
calendar, was the Roman Catholic Church’s issue with the 
observance of Easter. It was traditionally observed on March 21, 
but was falling further away from the spring equinox with each 
passing year (Cohen 2018). In addition, the Julian calendar didn’t 
properly reflect the actual time it takes the earth to orbit once 
around the sun, known as tropical year. The Julian calendar also 
produced a leap year every four years, which is by all accounts too 
many. According to The History Channel, 

The Julian calendar included an extra day in 
February every four years. But Aloysus Lilius, 
the Italian scientist who developed the system 
Pope Gregory would unveil in 1582, realized that 
the addition of so many days made the calendar 
slightly too long. He devised a variation that adds 
leap days in years divisible by four, unless the 
year is also divisible by 100. If the year is also 
divisible by 400, a leap day is added regardless. 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

While this formula may sound confusing, it did 
resolve the lag created by Caesar’s earlier 
scheme—almost. (Cohen 2018) 

 
Figure 1 “Leap Year Flowchart” (Ongytenes 2015). 

The Gregorian calendar was found to use a much more accurate 
rule for calculating leap years. In the correction of these 
inadequacies and in order get the calendar system back in sync 
with the astronomical events like that of the vernal equinox or the 
winter solstice, eleven days would have to be dropped from the 
calendar. Imagine that – days the people had become accustomed 
to were instantly eradicated. Meanwhile here in the American 
colonies in the eighteenth century, Benjamin Franklin would write 
to his delight in the welcoming of this change when he expresses, 
“It is pleasant for an old man to be able to go to bed on September 
2, and not have to get up until September 14” (Cohen 2018). The 
papal bull inter-gravissimas, issued by Pope Gregory XIII in 
1582, decreed that ten days would be dropped when shifting to the 
Gregorian calendar. It was believed that the later the interchange 
occurred, the more days that would have to be omitted. At the time 
of the transition, a shorter month of 18 days, and odd dates like 
February 30 would occur (Webexhibits.org 2008). Prominent 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

Catholic countries, including Spain, Portugal, and Italy swiftly 
adopted the new calendar for their civil affairs.  

 
Figure 2 “Conversion from Julian to Gregorian dates.” (Clavius 2018). 

Other countries and nations originally rejected the calendar in 
opposition to the Roman Catholic church. The European 
Protestants, for example, largely rejected the change seeing this as 
an attempt to silence their movement. The Protestants also 
accused Pope Gregory XIII of being the “Roman Anti-Christ,” and 
lamenting that the real purpose of the new calendar was a Catholic 
plot to keep true Christians from worshipping on correct days 
(Cohen 2018). It is also important to note that both calendars were 
based on the connection to the birth and life of Jesus Christ, which 
would also draw opposition from non-Christians and those who 
followed other faiths of religion. Essentially, the focal point of 
time is centered on the birth of Christ and is arguably the dividing 
point in time in world history (Wellman 2014). The terms, Before 
Christ (B.C.) and Anno Domini (A.D) meaning “in the year of the 
Lord,” are used to label or number the years in the Julian and 
Gregorian Calendars, which are religiously based. These varying 
religions such as Christianity, Islam, Catholicism, and Hinduism, 
to name just a few, are all examples that continue to divide 
families, friends, and in recent cases nations of people (Thirty 
Years’ War 2018). Historically, Protestants and Catholics were at 
war with each other; individuals on both sides killing each other 
in the name and in defense of their respective faith (Kane 1951) It 
would be plausible to believe because of instances such as this, 
and other multifarious factors, that many countries now use C.E., 



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an acronym for “common era” and B.C.E., which means “before 
common era;” This is used as an alternative to track years of time 
in a non-Christian manner.  

 
MCLUHAN’S LAW OF MEDIA 

By having an extensive background of the history, and 
significant knowledge of the calendar, it can be discerned as a 
transformative medium of technology. McLuhan (2007:128) 
asserts that tetrads are, “A means of focusing awareness on hidden 
or unobserved qualities in our culture and technology.” In this 
way, McLuhan reasons that in reference to the calendar the effects 
of this media can be viewed in four ways. The tetrad offers us an 
“exegesis on four levels, showing the logos – structure of each 
artefact, and giving its four parts as a metaphor or word.” With 
this model, the calendar can be examined in association to this 
tetrad. Based on the aforementioned information the calendar 
amplifies time. The calendar is an extension of time, people’s 
culture, and religious practices. The calendar also manifests days 
and events in time that are relevant to us. For instance, the 
Gregorian calendar is widely used today and was originally 
enacted to protect Easter from falling further away from the spring 
equinox with each passing year. In this example, this historic 
observance is known as the day that Jesus Christ rose from the 
dead, according to Christian faith. This faith-based connection 
that exists with this observance is amplified here in the United 
States in addition to other parts of the world. Presently in the 
United States, Easter in many households have become the day 
that everyone goes to church or mass, get dressed nicely in new 
suits, dresses and shoes, perform recitals and readings in front of 
the congregation, and later indulge in an elaborate Easter dinner, 
accompanied with baskets and marshmallow peeps for the 
children. At least, this was the case in my household. 
 
Enhancement 

Due to the calendar and other historical and other 
sociological concepts, a multitude of other events in time would 
soon be emphasized. In contradistinction to an Eastern country 
like China, where for example, January 1 is recognized as the 
beginning of a new year of life for all citizens, and Western 



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countries like the United States and Canada recognize Christmas 
as a major holiday and celebration based on the birth of Jesus 
Christ. China, on the other hand, does not celebrate Christmas as 
a major holiday as the day is observed casually, with no time off 
granted for such an affair. For many nations, specifically those 
that considered a Christian or Catholic majority, celebrating 
Christmas encompasses activities such as buying gifts or 
purchasing a Christmas tree, with folks full of Christmas spirit, 
kindness, gift-giving, and other gestures that have been made 
customary. Western countries tend to take a significant amount of 
time aside from work or school to spend time with family, known 
as a “Christmas vacation.” In consonance with this, in the United 
States, there are historical events that are held dearly in this 
country to different groups of people. One of the days in American 
culture that has been amplified over time is Dr. Martin Luther 
King Jr’s birthday, which signifies the honorable and heroic work 
of his civil rights activism in this country. Another day is 
“Mother’s Day,” a day reserved as a celebration of all the mothers 
and an opportunity to acknowledge them. “Memorial Day” is our 
nation’s day of paying homage and respects to all those that have 
lost their lives for this country, like that of the 9/11 attacks, or 
those in the duty of service to the United States, presumably 
defending our freedoms from attacks of the likes of Isis, the 
Taliban, or rival nations like North Korea or Russia. There’s also 
the “Fourth of July,” which marks the celebration of the day in 
time that the United States declared its independence from Great 
Britain in 1776. It is also important to contemplate that the 
calendar enhances how our society traditionally observes it, which 
in other countries may be an ordinary day. For example, 
“Mother’s Day” dictates to many that we must buy lavish flowers 
and cards for our mother or loved ones who may have children of 
their own. Dr. King Jr. Day is an observance that warrants all state 
and government buildings be closed and is usually celebrated with 
a “Kingdom Day” parade in most major U.S. cities. The “Fourth 
of July” is conventionally an exciting day of food, fun, family 
activities, and an extraordinary firework show that can be seen 
throughout the day, but mostly over the night sky and across the 
country simultaneously. Even on a more personal level, there are 
examples of amplifications that I can point to in my life. These 



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exemplifications include my birthday, which I generally celebrate 
with family and close friends by going out to dinner and dressing 
nicely. My parents’ wedding anniversary, which gratifies their 
years of a loving marriage together. Another day of importance 
was when my son was born on September 19, 2016. This is a day 
that I’ll never forget, as it marked the beginning of a new life and 
a better version of me. Most recent would be my brother’s release 
from state prison, which will forever mark the beginning of the 
newest chapter in the book of our lives. 

 
Obsolesce 

The calendar has become the recognized norm in which 
we track time, days, seasons, and years. Earlier practices that were 
used to do these same things would now become, “the erosion of 
formerly significant artifact” (2007:129). Some of the things that 
would be pushed to the background would be the use of astronomy 
for the purposes of studying seasons and intervals of the year. 
Before the calendar, there was a reliance on studying the patterns 
of the sun and moon to have knowledge of seasons and the time 
of day it was (Hobden). The cycle of the moon’s phases, for 
example, provided a convenient means of counting days. This 
methodology would no longer be needed with the calendar now in 
place. In earlier civilizations, the community also relied on 
shamans and priests as calendar-keepers to provide accurate 
predictions for the purposes of initiating economic activities. 
Farming and hunting needed efficient rituals based on an accuracy 
of the calendar to ensure success. Just as the evolution of print 
would eliminate the use of scribes for hand copying, the calendar 
would allow for shamans and priest to focus on other duties 
besides calendar keeping.  
 
Retrieval 

Another concept that recently has been moved to the 
periphery is the theory of measuring time according to the birth 
and life of Christ. Many countries and people have pushed aside 
B.C. and A.D. in favor of using B.C.E., which is an acronym for 
“before common era,” and C.E. which refers to “common era,” as 
a non-religious or anti-Christian means of their description of 
measuring time, without portraying an allegiance or affinity to 



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Christianity or any religion for that matter. Being that the terms 
B.C. and A.D. are affixed to Christ, there are people who don’t 
agree or refuse the practice of following a calendar system that is 
bias to this, thus, justifying why many countries originally stood 
in opposition to calendar standardization. An example of this 
would be Saudi Arabia, an Islamic state, that would adopt the 
Gregorian calendar as recent as the end of 2016, over 200 years 
since its original inception. In Saudi Arabia’s use of the calendar, 
the terms B.C. and A.D. are non-existent, and the country’s 
practices of the Gregorian calendar is in regard to it being 
confirmed as the Common Era calendar. Lastly, the Gregorian 
calendar would cancel out the Julian calendar as the “World’s 
calendar,” whether the transmission over to the more accurate 
Gregorian calendar was immediate or eventual. One of the 
practices that would reinvent itself and would be used as a basis 
of academic study would be Astronomy. The study of the sun and 
the moon are no longer relied on as intently for knowing the time 
of day or year. These studies can be concentrated on the basis of 
studying the patterns of the sun and moon from a scientific 
perspective. Throughout the calendar, specific days are noted as 
to inform us of different moon patterns that we can expect to see 
in the sky. The weather portion of Los Angeles’ Channel 7 news 
does this as well. The meteorologist typically gives the viewer the 
seven day forecast for the upcoming week, yet also details the time 
of the sunrise and sunset for any given day, in addition to listing 
the different phases of the moon; e.g. This Tuesday, we may 
visibly be able to see a crescent moon, this Friday the sun will rise 
at 5:39am and set at 7:46pm, and this Sunday will mark the first 
day of Spring. The study of animal migration and hibernation 
patterns now centers around the studying of nature and the natural 
sciences and are no longer needed as a basis of tracking time or 
seasons. These are a few of the various concepts that were pushed 
aside that were responsible for the calculation of time, days, and 
seasons as humanity once knew it. These concepts would 
resurface with new invigorated purpose and permanence.  
 
Reversal 

With the practices and uses that analogize with the 
calendar, an argument can be legitimately made of the detrimental 



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effects that the calendar can have on a person and society. The 
ideology of abuse and pessimism can make this medium an enemy 
instead of an ally in some cases. According to McLuhan 
(2007:128), every innovation has within itself the seeds of its 
reversal. In the case of the calendar, this technology has the ability 
to facilitate stress, anxiety, sorrow, or even anger among several 
other emotions when pushed to its limits. Deadlines, court dates, 
or an impending prison sentence that is scheduled to be enacted 
can serve as scenarios in which the calendar “flips” against 
society. It would also be just to say that calendars and its structures 
and constraints can push people to the limits of not following 
important dates, events, and engagements that may have been 
scheduled on one’s calendar in an act of defiance and deviation 
from the norm. The calendar can serve as a painful reminder of 
specific days, like when family members have passed away, the 
day that our professor for Statistics will administer their dreaded 
final exam assignment, and the length of a school year in Los 
Angeles County, which may cause parents and students alike the 
inability to travel freely to vacation in Papeete, Tahiti or San Juan, 
Puerto Rico, causing some anger and extreme frustration. In this 
way, the calendar over-extends itself to a culture of due dates, long 
awaiting appointments at the dentist’s office, the ennui leading up 
to a not-so-important staff meeting at work, and the fear of flying 
on a plane to Detroit on a ‘red-eye’ by Wednesday morning to 
protest police brutality and the subsequent civil unrest in the city’s 
urban communities. These are all realistic scenarios of the 
calendars being “flipped” against a society and its people.  
 
CONCLUSION 

In the sociological examination and application of 
Marshall McLuhan’s laws of media to the calendar, there are 
extensive details and research on the calendar and its history to 
further understand and conceptualize the calendar and its 
interconnection to McLuhan’s tetrad, and how this tetrad is 
confirmed and applies to the calendar. The calendar has the 
components of all four effects: It enhances holidays and religion; 
it obsolesces the study of moon and sun patterns for timekeeping; 
it retrieves the study of Astronomy and natural sciences; and 
reverses into deadlines and the sickening anxiety that 



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accompanies it. These are some of the numerous concepts that 
apply in the evolvement of the calendar. In my analysis, I was able 
to ask the same questions in the same way with all the effects; as 
a social scientist, I indeed found all the answers that were needed 
to validate my collected datum. McLuhan (2007:128) is quoted as 
stating, “human artefacts are human utterances, or outerings, and 
such they are linguistic and rhetorical entities.” In this way, 
Calendars shape us, and thereafter we have come to shape our 
calendars. 

 
REFERENCES 

A&E Television Networks. (n.d.). Thirty Years’ War. History.com. 
https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/thirty-years-war 

Calendars through the Ages. 2008. “Years & Months: History Of Our Calendar.” 
Webexhibits.org/calendars/year-history.html. 

Clavius, Christopher. 2018. “Conversion from Julian to Gregorian dates.” The Gregorian 
Calendar. https://tyiekaugtr.wixsite.com/september-2018-vol-2/the-gregorian-
calendar-part-1 

Cohen, Jennie. 2018. “6 Things You May Not Know About the Gregorian Calendar.” 
History.com/news. A&E Television Networks. 

Hobden, Heather. N.d. “Time Before Clocks.” Cosmicelk.net/timebeforeclocks.htm 
Kane, John J. “Protestant-Catholic Tensions.” American Sociological Review, vol. 16, no. 

5, 1951, pp. 663–72. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2087360.  
McLuhan, Marshall, and Eric McLuhan. 2007. Laws of Media: The New Science. Toronto: 

U of Toronto. 
Ongytenes. 2015. “Leap Year Flowchart.” https://www.insightsonindia.com/wp-

content/uploads/2020/02/Leap_year_flowchart.png 
Wellman, Jack. 2014. “What Is the Meaning of B.C. and A.D.? When Did This 

Originate?” Patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier. 
 
 
 
Lami J. Glenn (He/Him) is a recent Summa Cum Laude graduate of 
California State University, Los Angeles, where he received his Bachelor’s 
degree in Sociology, with a minor in Pan African Studies in May 2023. Glenn 
currently serves as an alumnus advisor for CSF, the Sociology Club, and the 
Student Homie Union (SHU) club and is in a leadership role at Homeboy 
Industries, a non-profit organization based in the Los Angeles area 
committed to social justice & reentry services to the greater county of Los 
Angeles community. Born and raised in south Los Angeles, with a fervor for 
equitable justice, his previous research seeks to examines people’s 
sentiments and attitudes towards police brutality against unarmed Black 
Americans from the multifarious perspectives rooted in race, class, and 
gender. Glenn plans to enroll in graduate school within the next year to 
extend on this scholarship endeavor. 


	As the Days, Months, Years, and “Leap Years” of Our Lives’ Turn - Lami J. Glenn



