French Republican Calendar
The French Republican or Revolutionary Calendar is a calendar that was once implemented during the French Revolution and used by the French Republican government for twelve years between 1793 and 1805. In the age in which the new French Republic attempted to get rid of the various references and attributes of the Ancien Régime, new systems were sought to take their place. Along with the metric system, the French Revolutionary calendar was born under these circumstances. The calendar sought to decimalize time and divide units of time into decimally down to the second. The use of the French Republican Calendar lived even through the end of the French Revolution during the Coup of 18 Brumaire VIII ( 9 November 1799 ) but was finally abolished by Napoleon on 10 Nivôse XIV ( 1 January 1806 ). I find this calendar to be interesting thanks to its attention in attempting to account for the current Gregorian calendar's uneven months and the idea of decimalized time which is something I find would be interesting if applied on a larger scale.
Les jours complémentaires
There are five extra days known as complementary days which are left out of the standard month; these days follow after Fructidor - six in leap years. These extra days were reserved as holidays and were given their own respective names.
La Fête de la Vertu "Celebration of Virtue"
La Fête du Génie "Celebration of Talent"
La Fête du Travail "Celebration of Labour"
La Fête de l'Opinion "Celebration of Convictions"
La Fête des Récompenses "Celebration of Honors"
La Fête de la Révolution "Celebration of the Revolution" (on leap years only)
Decimal Time
In terms of decimal time, often integrated with the republican calendar, each day is divided into 10 hours (equivalent around 144 conventional minutes), with an hour equal to 100 minutes (around 86.4 conventional minutes) and a minute consisting of 100 seconds (around 0.864 conventional seconds).
Months
Autumn
Vendémiaire
"Vintage"
22 Sep - 21 Oct
Brumaire
"Mist"
22 Oct - 20 Nov
Frimaire
"Frost"
21 Nov - 20 Dev
Winter
Nivôse
"Snow"
21 Dec - 19 Jan
Pluviôse
"Rain"
20 Jan - 18 Feb
Ventôse
"Wind"
19 Feb - 20 Mar
Spring
Germinal
"Germination"
21 Mar - 19 Apr
Floréal
"Flower"
20 Apr - 19 May
Prairial
"Meadow"
20 May - 18 Jun
Summer
Messidor
"Harvest"
19 Jun - 18 Jul
Thermidor
"Heat"
19 Jul - 17 Aug
Fructidor
"Fruit"
18 Aug - 18 Sep
Days of the week & monthly layout:
Décade 1
Décade 3
Décade 2
Primidi 1
Primidi 21
Primidi 11
Duodi 2
Duodi 22
Duodi 12
Tridi 3
Tridi 23
Tridi 13
Quatridi 4
Quatridi 24
Quatridi 14
Quintidi 5
Quintidi 25
Quintidi 15
Sextidi 6
Sextidi 26
Sextidi 16
Septidi 7
Septidi 27
Septidi 17
Octidi 8
Octidi 28
Octidi 18
Nonidi 9
Nonidi 29
Nonidi 19
Décadi 10
Décadi 30
Décadi 20