Almanac
An almanac (also spelled almanack and almanach) is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects.
[1] It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and other tabular data often arranged according to the calendar.
Celestial figures and various statistics are found in almanacs, such as the rising and setting times of the Sun and Moon, dates of eclipses, hours of high and low tides, and religious festivals.
The set of events noted in an almanac may be tailored for a specific group of readers, such as farmers, sailors, or astronomers.
Its first syllable, al-, and its general relevance to medieval science and technology, strongly suggest an Arabic origin, but no convincing candidate has been found".
[7] The Oxford Dictionary of English says that the word origin is "via Old French and medieval Latin from Spanish Arabic al-manāk ('the calendar')".
The earlier texts considered to be almanacs have been found in the Near East, dating back to the middle of the second millennium BC.
[note 1] The first heliacal rising of Sirius was used for its prediction and this practice, the observation of some star and its connecting to some event apparently spread.
The Greek almanac, known as parapegma, has existed in the form of an inscribed stone on which the days of the month were indicated by movable pegs inserted into bored holes, hence the name.
[14] Ptolemy, the Alexandrian astronomer (2nd century) wrote a treatise, Phaseis—"phases of fixed stars and collection of weather-changes" is the translation of its full title—the core of which is a parapegma, a list of dates of seasonally regular weather changes, first appearances and last appearances of stars or constellations at sunrise or sunset, and solar events such as solstices, all organized according to the solar year.
Ptolemy believed that astronomical phenomena caused the changes in seasonal weather; his explanation of why there was not an exact correlation of these events was that the physical influences of other heavenly bodies also came into play.
[15] Surviving Roman menologia rustica combined schedules of solar information and agricultural activities throughout the year with the months' tutelary deities and major festivals.
In 1300, Petrus de Dacia created an almanac (Savilian Library, Oxford) the same year Roger Bacon, OFM, produced his own.
By the second half of the 16th century, yearly almanacs were being produced in England by authors such as Anthony Askham, Thomas Buckminster, John Dade and Gabriel Frende.
The 1664 issue of the series stated: "This month we may expect to hear of the Death of some Man, Woman, or Child, either in Kent or Christendom.
[22] The Cambridge/Boston area in Massachusetts soon became the first center in the colonies for the annual publication of almanacs,[23] to be followed by Philadelphia during the first half of the eighteenth century.
[29] Benjamin Banneker, a free African American living near Ellicott's Mills, composed a series of almanacs for the years of 1792 to 1797.
Modern almanacs include a comprehensive presentation of statistical and descriptive data covering the entire world.
[31] In 2007, Harrowsmith Country Life Magazine launched a Canadian Almanac, written in Canada, with all-Canadian content.
[32] Major topics covered by almanacs (reflected by their tables of contents) include: geography, government, demographics, agriculture, economics and business, health and medicine, religion, mass media, transportation, science and technology, sport, and awards/prizes.
