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Comment by MikePlacid | Hacker News Reader

Astronomers may just understand that the problem exists: [the ITU group’s chairman] says he needs more input from people who use universal time. “Many people don't even know that leap seconds exist,”

The decision to ignore leap seconds reminds of the decision by Russian and some other orthodox churches to ignore changes introduced by Gregorian calendar. The decision saved them some internal political problems, like the need to decide which saints will have their celebrations missing, but now the Orthodox Christmas is moving to summer with the speed of about 1 day per 100 years. Eventually somebody will have to deal with this, but not now - there’s a lot of time - same thinking.

Meanwhile, if you leave in a Gregorian country you can have your Christmas tree for free on Orthodox December 12th…

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Orthodox Christians in the Southern Hemisphere already celebrate Christmas in summer, as do other Christians.

#borealocentrism

> borealocentrism

Guilty as charged. Thinking of that - there could be no more Russian winter as we used to it at all, even in the Northern hemisphere. My friends are now growing apricots in the Russian temperate zone. Apricots! - in the place there the “Baptismal Frosts” (to happen each year just before Christmas) used to kill all such fancy vegetation.

#climateasitwasbeforechangecentrism

> Eventually somebody will have to deal with this

The Islamic calendar drifts by about 10 days a year, and Muslims seems to be able to cope fine with their holidays not consistently being in the same season.

Well to be fair, I don't think the Muslim calendar is _meant_ to have any solar correspondence anyway. But more importantly the holidays, is the use of the calendar in having a natural sense of time (that is, corresponding with the seasons / sun). Which is why most Islamic countries use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes (or so claims Wikipedia, at least).

Orthodox Christian countries also use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes.

Many Islamic countries do in fact use the Gregorian calendar for Civic purposes, at the very least Egypt does which I can confirm by virtue of living here.

I'm not sure Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas with a tree. At least in Russia the tree is mounted for New Year celebration and it lasts till Orthodox Christmas for granted. Actually it usually lasts to the so-called Old New Year - New Year in Old Style (meaning Julian Calendar before introduction of Gregorian one by Bolsheviks).

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