What Time Is It?

Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.

There are myriads of commemorations; more than what is humanly possible to remember. How we deal with this is by selecting major anniversaries. In the case of the 2018 commemorational events, just to take one year data-set, the datasheet identified events for the anniversaries of 1844 (175 Years, Dodransbicentennial), 1869 (150 Years, Sesquicentennial), 1894 (125 Years, Quasquicentennial), 1919 (100 Years, Centennial), 1944 (75 Years, Diamond unofficially), 1959 (60 Years, Sexagennial), 1969 (50 Years, Semicentennial), 1979 (40 Years, Quadragennial), 1989 (30 Years, Pearl unofficially), 1994 (25 Years, Quadranscentennial), 1999 (20 Years, Vigintennial), 2009 (10 Years, Decennial), 2014 (5 Years, Quinquennial).

Methodology: This is my original databasing from events listed in Wikipedia’s ‘List of years’ for selected years, and for ‘world’ and ‘Australia’. Only events with full date included. Note that the big data is largely unrefined and unverified. The purpose of the data is indicative of the range of commemorations possible, with the point that event-orientation is a historiography that fails grasp the significance and scope of the past. Historiographies which are thematic have a better grasp and a better frame for understanding history.