Before we leave juillet (July) and our observances of the French Revolution* behind for another year, I thought it might be fun to explore briefly one of the odder ‘inventions’ of the First French Republic.

The French Revolution and France’s First Republic which it led to gave us many enduring ideals including the Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen (The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen) and the metric system which are still with us today (at least if you live anywhere in the world but the United States which is just one of three countries which have not adopted the metric system!). It also gave us the calendrier républicain or calendrier révolutionnaire français (Republican calendar / French revolutionary calendar) – which didn’t last quite as long.

The leaders of the French Revolution wanted to make a definitive break with the past. They were leaving behind the Monarchy and in their desire to build on a system of reason and logic, they also wanted to distance themselves and their new nation from the influence of the church. From 1792 until 1806, they introduced their very own calendar, one that reset the clock and reshaped the year.

Like the Gregorian calendar we know today, the revolutionary calendar divided the year up into 4 saisons et 12 mois (4 seasons and 12 months), but the new months were each of a uniform 30 jours (days). Chaque année (each year) would end with 5 (or 6) extra days to align with the solar year. Les mois were named to reflect a key element or aspect of the point in the year that month fell.

* Check out part 1 here; and click here for part 2.
** You can find a review of the ‘proper’ months of the year (and days of the week) here.
*** ‘Germinal‘ is also the name of one of French 19th century author Emile Zola’s novels.