Pataphysical calendar  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Ubu Roi (King Ubu) is a play developed by Alfred Jarry premiered on December 10 1896, and is widely acknowledged as a theatrical precursor to the Absurdist, Dada and Surrealist art movements.

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The pataphysical calendar is a calendar that is inspired by Alfred Jarry, the creator of 'pataphysics and the author of Ubu Roi.

The first version of the calendar was published in L'Almanach du Père Ubu in 1889. The second version was released in 1901 in the L'Almanach illustré du Père Ubu. The calendar started to get used in the Collège de 'Pataphysique in 1948, after the death of Jarry.

The calendar has 13 months with each 29 days. The 29th day however, is not used, except for 29 Gidouille (as an exception) and 29 Gueule in a leap year. The months always start on a Sunday, so that every month has a Friday the 13th. The names of the days are equal to the general calendar (the French names are mostly used), except for the 29th (the imaginary day), which name is Hunyadi. 29 Gueule is called Hunyadi gras (fat hunyadi).

To make it not that hard for the reader, one places the vulgar (standard) date after the date.

Pataphysical calendar

The pataphysical calendar is a variation of the Gregorian calendar. The Collège de 'Pataphysique created the calendar in 1949. The pataphysical era (E.P.) started on Jarry's birthday, 8 September 1873 vulg. When converting pataphysical dates to Gregorian dates, the appendage (vulg.) for vulgate ("common") is added.

The week starts on a Sunday. Every 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd is a Sunday and every 13th day of a month falls on a Friday (see Friday the 13th). Each day is assigned a specific name or saint. For example, the 27 Haha (1 November vulg.) is called Template:Lang-fr or the 14 Sable (14 December vulg.) is the day of Template:Lang-fr.

The year has a total of 13 months each with 29 days. The 29th day of each month is imaginary with two exceptions:

• the 29 Gidouille (13 July vulg.) is always non-imaginary
• the 29 Gueules (23 February vulg.) is non-imaginary during leap years

The table below shows the names and order of months in a pataphysical year with their corresponding Gregorian dates and approximate translations or meanings by Hugill.

For example:

• 8 September 1873 (vulg.) = 1 Absolu 1
• 1 January 2000 (vulg.) = 4 Décervelage 127
• 10 November 2012 (vulg.)(Saturday) = 8 As 140 (Sunday)