Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) New Year's Day, among ancient peoples the first day of the year frequently corresponded to the vernal or autumnal equinox, or to the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was celebrated amo...

(Encyclopedia) April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day, holiday of uncertain origin, known for practical joking and celebrated on the first of April. Prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1564, the date was ...

(Encyclopedia) day, period of time for the earth to rotate once on its axis. The ordinary day, or solar day, is measured relative to the sun, being the time between successive passages of the sun over a stationary o...

(Encyclopedia) Day, Benjamin, 1838–1916, American printer; son of Benjamin Henry Day. While working in New York City, Day invented a process, utilizing celluloid sheets, for shading plates in the color printing of...

(Encyclopedia) Julian Day calendar, system of astronomical dating that allows the difference between two dates to be calculated more easily than conventional civil calendars with their uneven months. It was devised ...

(Encyclopedia) year, time required for the earth to complete one orbit about the sun. The solar or tropical year is measured relative to the sun and is equal to 365 days, 5 hr, 48 min, 46 sec of mean solar time (see...

(Encyclopedia) Day, Stockwell, 1950–, Canadian political leader, b. Barrie, Ontario. He grew up in Montreal, attended (1970–71) the Univ. of Victoria, and held such jobs as auctioneer, deckhand, lumberjack, cont...

(Encyclopedia) Canada Day, formerly Dominion Day, Canadian national holiday, celebrated July 1. It is the anniversary of the uniting in 1867 of Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia as the dominion ...

(Encyclopedia) day nursery, day-care center, or crèche krĕsh [key], institution for the care of the children of working parents. Originating in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th cent., day nurseries were est...

(Encyclopedia) Day, Benjamin Henry, 1810–89, American journalist. He learned the printer's trade in the office of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican and opened a printing office in New York City. Lack of work duri...