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NFriik t1_j2e52gv wrote

But... That's not an arbitrary time. It's how long our planet takes for a full revolution around the sun. That's the opposite of arbitrary.

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leekee_bum OP t1_j2e6byq wrote

Ah yes but why have we chosen December 31st of all days to be the last? At midnight too. It could have been at the end of June at noon, it wouldn't have made a difference.

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NFriik t1_j2e7ofx wrote

Well, true, the names of the months (and their existence) are pretty much arbitrary. But if you define a year to be the time it takes earth to revolve once around the sun, it makes sense to celebrate the end of one revolution at the end of the year. Why December 31? No idea, but my first guess would be that it's closely related to the winter solstice. We could've just as well defined the last day of the year to be the day of winter or summer solstice, for example. So yeah, the specific date is arbitrary.

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leekee_bum OP t1_j2e82ya wrote

Yes that was what I was referring to. The length of the year is not arbitrary. Just a few chosen moments.

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NFriik t1_j2e9c3j wrote

Then I guess I misunderstood lol.

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