On December 31, 1999, people all over the world partied down like never before in celebration of the beginning of a new millennium. There were fireworks galore, music, dancing, drinking, and all manner of revelry. It didn't matter that people were celebrating the new millennium in error. There's just something about all those 0's in the date that made it special.

New Year's Day, 2001 was rung in with zeal, but nothing like the year previous--never mind that 2001 is the real beginning of the third millennium. The reason 2001 starts a millennium is because there was no year 0. The calendar jumps from the year 1 BC to the year 1 AD because there is no Roman numeral for zero. When you start counting from 1 and end at 1000, the next series of a thousand begins at 1001 and goes through 2000. So the year 2000 marks the end of the second millennium on the Gregorian calendar.

This technicality meant little to those who were awed at seeing the year roll over from 1999 to 2000. It's like watching the odometer on your car hit that 100,000-mile mark. So, in some respects, it is altogether fitting that we celebrated the year 2000 with more vigor than we would celebrate a typical new year.

A millennium, by itself, is simply a series of 1000 years in a row. For example, the period from May 25, 1953 through May 24, 2953 is a millennium. But, since most of the Western World uses the Gregorian calendar to keep track of years, the important question is when to mark the beginning of the third millennium BC.

With all the hype surrounding the start of the 3rd millennium, one wonders how our forebears celebrated the millennial change in the year 1000 AD. Actually, there was little to celebrate in Europe a thousand years ago. It was the middle of the Dark Ages and most people weren't in a party mood. Besides, they didn't use Arabic numerals as we do. So, to them, they were merely observing the year "M." It just wasn't the same.

In calculating the true end of the millennium, we must consider why we start numerating our years from 1 AD. Christ was not actually born in the year 1 AD, or 1 BC. (AD stands for the Latin Anno Domini, meaning "The year of our Lord.") Most likely, he was born in the spring or fall of 4 BC or 5 BC. One of the early bishops goofed when he calculated the birth date of Christ.

Also, it doesn't make much sense to start counting from Christ's birth anyway, from a purely Biblical standpoint. After all, the story of His birth was not important enough to include in half the Gospels! A more likely choice would be Christ's Resurrection. So, if He were crucified at age 33, then the REAL millennial year ought to be 2028 or 2029.

But, the early Church decided that Christ's birth was more significant to our calendar, so that's what we use. Therefore, if Jesus was actually born in 4 BC, the 2nd millennium ended on December 31, 1996 and the true 3rd millennium began in 1997. So maybe those millennial partygoers in 1999 weren't early after all. Maybe they were three years too late!