| An almanac (also spelled almanack, especially in Commonwealth English) is an annual publication containing tabular information in a particular field or
fields often arranged according to the calendar. Astronomical data and various
statistics are also found in almanacs, such as the times of the rising and setting of the sun
and moon, eclipses, hours of full tide, stated festivals of churches, terms of courts,
lists of all types, timelines, and so on.
When almanacs were first devised, people saw little difference between predicting the movements of the stars and tides, and
predicting the future in the divination sense. Early almanacs therefore
contained general horoscopes, as well as the more concrete information. One
almanac, Poor
Robin's Almanack parodied these horoscopes in its 1664 issue, saying "This month we may expect to hear of the Death of
some Man, Woman, or Child, either in Kent or Christendom." This sort of almanac still exists as Old Moore's Almanac,
although their more mainstream modern descendents are the Your Year in the Stars supplements in the New Year edition of some newspapers and
magazines.
See also: List of almanacs, List of reference tables, Gazetteer
- Almanac is also the title of an album by the
band They Might Be Giants.
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