by Ken Kalb

April 6, 1997 marked day one of the one thousand-day countdown to January 1, 2000. There seems to be alot of confusion as to whether January 1, 2000 is indeed the dawning of the new Millennium, the end of the Millenniun -- or if January 1, 2001 is really the beginning. We offer this clarification to this frequently asked question.

This date is officially endorsed by the The Greenwich Observatory, the Encyclopedia Britannica, The U.S. Naval Observatory, Webster's New Third International Dictionary, and the World Almanac. The roots of this official clarification may be traced to a Scythian monk by the name of Dennis the Diminutive, who tried to establish a fixed date for Easter Sunday in what was to become the year 526 A.D.  

Dionysius Exiguus, alias Dennis the Diminutive, a sixth century abbot of a Roman monastery worked exhaustively in Roman numerals to calculate a solid basis for the church calendar to arrive at the proper day for Easter. He declared Anno Domini as 1 A.D., "year of our Lord," rather than 0, as there is no zero in Roman numerals. The modern calendar thus started with a one, so logically, every decade and century must, in turn, begin with a one, i.e. 1211, 1951, 2001.  

Thus began the "millennial quirk" causing 2001 to be officially acknowledged as the beginning of the bimillennium.

The popular answer: January 1, 2000 

Regardless of calendrical technicalities, people around the world will be heralding the new millennium when the 000's roll over on January 1, 2000. The year 2000 will be a landmark milestone for all humanity. It promises to be a turning point when we reevaluate the direction of our life and human civilization, and envision new beginnings. Numerous celebrations and events are being planned all over the world for this day of century's end and commencement of the bimillennium. 

Oftentimes the technical and official is not the practical.or popular. January 1, 2000 may not be the official bimillennial date, but it might as well be. For a thousand years, people have been writing three digits after a one, but no more. January 1, 2000 will be the most powerful date in human history. Our vision is for the human community to band together in a silent unified wave of elevated consciousness to set the tone for the future -- and continue to beam this signal on the first of each month through January 1, 2001 -- bridging the unofficial and official millennium from the pure light within us all. 

On the The islamic calendar, the year 2000 translates to 1420, on the Jewish calendar it will be 5760, and the Chinese calendar calculates it to be the year 4698. But most humans will be fully absorbed in the amplified emotional potency of January 1, 2000.