HWC Tutorial - Page 8 - Other Examples and Uses
When George Washington was born, the British Empire (and thus the colony of Virginia) was still using the old style Julian calendar. His birth date as recorded at the time was February 11, 1732. (Actually it was double-dated as "11 February 1731/32" in the family Bible, but we won't go into the differing start-of-year dates in this discussion. The Julian calendar date as we would normally understand it was 11 February 1732.) Then in 1751, Parliament voted to adopt the "new style" calendar, which was simply the Gregorian calendar without the Gregorian name, and in the process 11 days were dropped from September, 1752, to catch up to the Gregorian date. So the anniversary of Washington's birth would have changed to February 22 to keep it at full years after his birth. However, sources disagree as to whether Washington himself continued to celebrate February 11, or whether he changed to February 22 following the practice of many of his contemporaries. Eventually, the Federal holiday known as Washington's Birthday was established on February 22. (It has since been superseded by Presidents Day on the 3rd Monday in February.)
Let's use Advanced HWC to find the weekday of Washington's date of birth on both calendars.
February 11, 1732 O.S. ("Old Style," meaning Julian calendar)
- 14' = palm
- 15', 16', 1728 = back 1, back 1, back 1 (ring)
- '32 = back 2 (index)
- February 29 (leap year) = no move (still index)
- 28 = back 1 (thumb)
- 14 = no move (still thumb)
- 13, 12, 11 = back 1, back 1, back 1 (pinkie)
- Pinkie = Friday
February 22, 1732 N.S. ("New Style," equivalent to Gregorian calendar)
- 1728 = palm (16', 17' = Tue-Sun = palm)
- 1732 = back 2 (pinkie)
- February 29 = no move (still pinkie)
- 22 = pinkie (no move, because 29 - 7 = 22.)
- Pinkie = Friday
If you notice a valid shortcut, by all means take it. It only takes a moment to move from 29 back to 28, ride to 21, and go forward to 29. But if you notice that 22 is exactly seven days before 29, there's no need to move at all.
A Future Example: Armistice Centennial
The Armistice ending World War I was signed November 11, 1918, which might be an interesting weekday to find. But instead, let's find the weekday of its upcoming Centennial in 2018.
Armistice Centennial, November 11, 2018.
- 2000 = index
- '12 = forward 1 (middle)
- '16 = back 2 (thumb)
- '17, '18 = foward 1, forward 1 (middle)
- November 7 = no move (middle)
- 8, 9, 10, 11 = forward 1, forward 1, forward 1, forward 1 (palm)
- Palm = Sunday
Finding the Numeric Date of a Known Weekday
Here's an opposite type of problem to those we've been working so far. Suppose you want to find the date of Thanksgiving in 2009. In this case, you know that it's the fourth Thursday in November, and you want to know its numeric day-of-month. When you search for an "ordinal weekday" such as fourth Thursday, you can first find the weekday of the "that-numbered" multiple of seven during the month. For example, to find fourth Thursday, we would look for November 28 (4 times 7) in 2009. The 28th would be the last possible date on which fourth Thursday (or fourth whichever-weekday) could occur. We simply find the 28th, and if that's not the right weekday, we then count backward a day at a time to the weekday we are seeking to find its numeric date.
Fourth Thursday in November, 2009 (Thanksgiving):
- 2000 = index
- '04, '08 = back 2, back 2 (pinkie)
- '09 = forward 1 (side)
- November 28 = no move (Since November 7 is Doomsday, November 28 is the same day of week)
- 27, 26 = pinkie, ring
- Thanksgiving, 2009, will be November 26.
In this example, when we count back to the ring position, it is the ring position that tells us to stop, because we were looking for a Thursday. Instead of reading the HWC position, we take the number we've counted at that position as the date we're seeking. Here are the date ranges for each "ordinal weekday."
- First occurrence of the weekday = 1st through 7th
- Second occurrence of the weekday = 8th through 14th
- Third occurrence of the weekday = 15th through 21st
- Fourth occurrence of the weekday = 22nd through 28th
- Fifth occurrence of the weekday = 29th through last day of month (Find 28 then immediately move forward to 29, 30, 31 as appropriate, to see if the fifth occurrence exists that month.)
To find the first occurrence of a weekday, check the weekday of the 7th, then countdown to the right weekday as necessary. For the second occurrence, check the 14th. The third occurrence, check the 21st. Fourth occurrence, check the 28th. Count back from any of these date if that is not the right weekday. If you are looking for the fifth occurrence of a weekday, such as fifth Sunday, realize first of all that there might not be one. To see if there is one, check the 28th (which cannot be the fifth occurrence) and immediately count forward to 29, then on as necessary to the end of the month. If the weekday doesn't fall in the actual date range starting from the 29th through end of the month, then there is not a fifth of that weekday in that month.
Mother's Day, 2007, the Second Sunday in May (check the 14th)
- 2000 = index
- '04 = back 2 (palm)
- '05, '06, '07 = forward 1, forward 1, forward 1 (middle)
- May 9 = no move (middle)
- 8, 7 = back 1, back 1 (thumb)
- 14 = no move (thumb)
- 13 = back 1 (palm)
- Mother's Day, 2007, was May 13.
Here's a slightly different example. Memorial Day is the last Monday in May. It could be the fourth Monday or the fifth Monday, depending on whether there is a fifth Monday or not. In this case, check the 31st of May, and if the 31st is not a Monday, count down from the 31st back to Monday to find its numeric date. Similarly to find the last occurrence of a weekday (possibly fourth or fifth) in any month, find its last day whatever that number may be, and if that's not the right weekday, count down from there to the weekday you are seeking.
Memorial Day, 2011
- 2000 = index
- '04, '08 = back 2, back 2 (pinkie)
- '09, '10, '11 = forward 1, forward 1, forward 1 (thumb)
- May 9 = no move (thumb)
- 8, 7 = back 1, back 1 (side)
- 28 = no move(side)
- 29, 30, 31 (index)
- 30 = back 1 (thumb)
After finding the 31st on the index position, we count back to the thumb because we are seeking Monday. This tells us that Memorial Day, 2011, will be the 30th. Of course, if you're alert, you can catch the fact that the 30th is on the thumb before you even get to 31.
Fond Adieu and Keep On HWC-ing
Finding weekdays is fun, and can be addictive. Whenever I watch a movie or TV show that mentions a date, I always feel compelled to find it's weekday to see what flavor it might add to the story. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), for example, begins by telling us the date is "Friday, December 11," but we are not told the year. A quick check using HWC tells us that the nearest year to 1960 having that date and weekday alignment is 1959. (December 11 is one day before Doomsday, so it must be a year with Doomsday on Saturday. Advanced HWC gives us 1956=middle, then count the Single years forward.) If you follow Marion Crane's (Janet Leigh's) timeline on her way to the Bates Motel, you'll find that the famous shower scene takes place on the evening of December 12...DOOMSDAY! Now that's flavor! Another coincidental Hitchcock/Doomsday connection occurs in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), in which the fateful Albert Hall concert and the climactic rescue at the embassy both take place on June 6...(DOOMSDAY)!
My last movie example comes from Forrest Gump (1994), in which Forrest begins a graveside speech with, "You died on a Saturday, and I had you placed here under our tree." But the headstone shows a death date of March 22, 1982, which was not a Saturday. I'll let you figure that one out for yourself.
Enjoy!