Bauren-Calender

Neu-Privil. Bauren-Calender aufs gemein-Jahr Jesu Christi MDCCLXXXIII.
Augsburg: Joseph Simon Hueber, [1782]. (BRB1244)

Produced for the Diocese of Augsburg, this farmer’s almanac for the year 1783 provided scientific, religious, and zodiacal information for use in rural daily life. At the top of the broadside are hand-colored woodcuts of the armorials of the Holy Roman Empire and the Bishop of Augsburg, and a central image of the Adoration of the Shepherds. The first line of German text following the title states that in 1783 Easter will follow Christmas by nine weeks and four days. Next, a paragraph predicts when six eclipses will occur during the coming year. Below this, a key with twenty typographic symbols indicates which days in the calendar below correspond to various cycles of the moon or will be suited to medical bleeding, planting, bathing, and other aspects of peasant life.

In the main section of the calendar, a woodcut at the left introduces each month by illustrating its traditional activity, such as feasting in January, pruning in February, and plowing in March. Each month (except February) features thirty or thirty-one rows of symbols marking the properties of each day, while hand-colored woodcut emblems of the saints and other religious symbols indicate the principle feast days. For example, the thirteenth day in April 1783 is Palm Sunday, a sunny day that promised to be a good day for a haircut. This broadside is a truly rare survival, as most of these calendars were discarded following their year of use.