Illum nitkellmu dwar il-ħin tax-xitwa (winter time) e ħin tal-iffrankar tas-sajf (summer time), investigating the historical reasons and the modern conventions that regulate the bidla fil-ħin.
Let’s try to understand why some countries in history have decided to adopt this system of bidla fil-ħin and above all what are the repercussions that the movement of the hands, both one hour ahead and one hour behind, has on daily life.
Let’s get right into the discussion by finding out what the next time changes are and how to move the hands of the clock.
The return of summer time in March 2022
In the night between Saturday 26 March and Sunday 27 March 2022.
At 2 am the clock hands will go forward by 60 minutes.
When will we return to solar time?
The change with solar time will take place, however, in the night between Saturday 29 October and Sunday 30 October 2022. At 3.00 that night the hands of the clock will go back by 60 minutes.
But let’s see how and when the current system was adopted.
The time change in Europe
First of all, let’s say that in the countries of the European Union the time change is regulated by the directive 2000/84 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 January 2001 concerning the provisions relating to summer time.
Again by convention, the timetable change takes place on the last Sunday of Ottubru with which the solar time is started. On the last Sunday of March, on the other hand, the period in which daylight saving time is in force begins. So the time change will take place each year on a different day, both in October and in March.
The change of time in the world
Countries with the dorario change
In Italy, as we all know, we use the different denominations of solar time and summer time. In many other countries, however, it is customary to identify the solar time with il-ħin tax-xitwa and daylight saving time with ħin tas-sajf. This is because the two time changes coincide with the alternation of the main climatic periods. For the record, there are many countries where the time change is not carried out, and therefore always remains with solar time. And there are also countries where the time change system with daylight saving time was adopted in the past, but is not in force today.
In the photo above, which represents the entire earth’s surface, we identify:
- Blue – the countries that adopt the time change
- Red – countries that have never made the transition from summer time to winter time and vice versa
- Orange – the countries that had adopted the summer time system in the past
Let’s now look at the historical reasons that led to these decisions.
The historical reasons for the time change and the relationship with agriculture
The first forms of human civilization were established with the advent of agriculture. Nomadism was gradually replaced by sedentary forms, linked to the possibility of cultivating the land. Now, as is well known, the rhythms of the earth go hand in hand with those of nature. The peasants were (and still are) used to always wake up at the first light of dawn. In short, they progressively shifted this hour in advance during the spring months or late in the autumn months (and before the spread of clocks they did so without knowing it).
The change of time in the modern era
In modern times, the use of summer time would like to try to reproduce the natural mechanism of seasonality, even if the actual reasons are essentially of an economic nature.
The purpose of adopting the summer timetable is to achieve significant savings in electricity. This is thanks to the possibility of exploiting more hours of daylight, in relation to the time habits of modern societies.
To better understand when we are saying, we can give a small example. Let’s consider a person who normally sleeps from 24.00 to 7.00. In spring and summer, as farmers know, the sun rises long before 7.00. Therefore, using the trick of daylight saving time, and sending the hands forward one hour, the daylight hours are better used from 6.00 to 7.00 in the morning. At the same time, the switching on of the evening lights (public and private lighting) is delayed by one hour.
It must be said that this system works. Every year, thanks to the summer time that replaces solar time for the spring / summer period, significant savings in electricity are obtained.
Standard time, daylight saving time and Benjamin Franklin
The first person, in modern times, to have had the intuition of the change of the time, was the well-known American scientist and politician Benjamin Franklinone of the founding fathers of the USA whose effigy is still linked to the 100 dollar bill.
In 1784 Franklin, inventor of the lightning rod and a great lover of meteorology and human anatomy, had the idea of bringing the people awake a few hours earlier in the summer months, to save on the use of candles.
His proposals, published in the French newspaper Journal de Paris, were quite extravagant and included forced alarms with the use of cannons as an alarm clock on the main roads, taxation of shutters, rationing of candles, ban on night traffic! So the proposal was not to change the time, but to somehow anticipate the people’s wake-up call. For this reason, his ideas on changing the time did not find much following, even if the intuition was right!
Solar time, summer time and other historical characters
A century later, the New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson proposed moving the hands of the clocks two hours ahead.
This idea was revived during the war, in 1916, by the British manufacturer William Willettwhich this time found broad consensus in the political class, above all in order to cope with war restrictions and famines.
F'dik is-sena l- House of Commons English established the shift of the clock hands by one hour during the summer months.
Since then, in Anglo-Saxon countries, the time change, ie the passage from solar time to summer time and vice versa, is called DST, “daylight saving time”.
The other European countries adapted to the convention established by the British. Of course, they did this with various adjustments, complications and setbacks.
In Europe, all countries, plus Switzerland, have followed the summer time convention since 1996. The beginning is always the last Sunday in March and the end is the last Sunday in October.
The different opinions on the timetable change
If energetically the change of time “summer time / solar time” is flawless, on other fronts it is not seen in a positive way.
Many, in fact, argue that this transition from solar time to summer time (and vice versa) alters the sleep-wake balance. This would appear to cause sleep disturbances.
The abolition of solar time, keeping summer time all year round, despite having several supporters, however, has some drawbacks. With permanent daylight saving time, in hindsight, it is true that there would be an extra hour of light in the evening in winter, but an important hour would be lost in the morning.
Instead, we go against the tide. As sleepy peasants, used to waking up on summer mornings at unpredictable times, we appreciate the return of solar time. This is because we can enjoy an extra hour of sleep during the winter.
What do you think of it? Do you agree with the time change or would you prefer permanent daylight saving time?
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