Also known as: revolutionary calendar, years of independence, An 1er de l'indépendance, Haitian calendar
Last updated: April 23, 2026
The French Revolutionary Calendar (calendrier républicain), with its months named after natural phenomena (Brumaire, Pluviôse, etc.), was used in Saint-Domingue throughout much of the revolution. The preliminary declaration of 29 November 1803 marked the break: it was dated using the Gregorian calendar, not the French revolutionary one. While Dessalines replaced the preliminary declaration with the formal January 1 version, he kept this rejection of French revolutionary time.
His imperial state drew on Haitian revolutionary symbolism and ceremonial tradition in ways that European observers systematically mocked as mimicry of European monarchy.
jacques-dessalines - Established the calendar with his secretaries on January 1, 1804
pierre-boyer - His overthrow in 1843 prompted the addition of "years of regeneration"
Louis Félix Boisrond-Tonnerre - First published the "An 1er de l'indépendance" dating system
1805 Constitution - First constitutional codification of the calendar
declaration-of-independence - The founding document that established the dating system
French Revolution - The French revolutionary calendar that Haiti's system explicitly rejected
Haitian Revolution - The event whose memory the calendar perpetuates
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"Haitian Revolutionary Calendar." Rasin.ai, 2026. https://rasin.ai/connections/concepts/haitian-revolutionary-calendar. Accessed 2026-05-05.