- a reformed calendar officially introduced by the French
Republican government on October 5, 1793. The calendar was taken
to have started on the equinox of September 22, 1792, the day of
the proclamation of the Republic. It had twelve months of thirty
days each, with five days of festivals at the year’s end (six in
leap years). The names of the months were Vendémiaire, Brumaire,
Frimaire, Nivose, Pluviose, Ventose, Germinal, Floréal,
Plairial, Messidor, Thermidor, and Fructidor. The new calendar
was abandoned under the Napoleonic regime, and the Gregorian
calendar was formally reinstated on January 1, 1806