Plain calendar

The "plain calendar," sometimes called (more appropriately) the "scriptural calendar," uses numbers to denominate the names of the months and days of the week. It emerged in the 17th century in England in the general nonconformist movement but became closely identified with Friends by the end of the 1650s and continuously since that time.

The Tract Association of Friends began to print "The Friends Calendar" at the end of the 19th century and continues to do so. This calendar includes quotations from historic Friends, often with associated passages of Scripture.

Features of the Plain Calendar

The plain calendar does not use names of calendar units derived from the names of pagan deities. Instead, it uses ancient terminology as found in Scripture. In the ancient languages, the days of the week were numbered; for example, Jesus' followers went to the tomb early on the First Day of the week.

Translating from the plain calendar to the "world's calendar" is somewhat simple, since the months run concurrently with the same day of the month. The names are different, of course. The following table shows how to convert for years beginning with 1752.

Here is a similar table for the names of the days of the week.

Note also that Friends do not set aside "holy" days, as Friends have always maintained that God makes it possible for every person to be holy every day. Therefore, recycled pagan days such as the day called "Christmas" and government-created days such as the day called "Thanksgiving" are not part of the plain calendar. Arthur Berk of Ohio Yearly Meeting stated in 2007 "Friends do not recognize unholy days," which aptly sets forth the traditional position.