What kind of calendar will be used on an interstellar voyage? Will it take into account time dilation? Will we be going fast enough for that to be an issue? Will there be daylight savings time? Leap days? Will the ship keep the same calendar as Earth, and will it be able to synchronize anyway?
Holidays
Assuming a voyage of 10-20 years, this seems like a moot point. Of course we would use the same calendar. Why wouldn't we? But, since the voyage will most likely be accomplished by a variety of nations from around the world, which holidays will be celebrated? Take a quick look at this Earth Calendar with holidays from 2009. Just a quick couple of clicks turns up 75 different holiday entries with hundred of countries celebrating, and that's just the first week!
So how to reconcile a multitude of holidays with the strict schedule that will be needed aboard ship? Morale will be a very important issue, so to strip citizens of their right to celebrate would be a very bad thing. What might be a solution is to provide each group of ethnic or nationalist or religious affiliations a chance to select a pre-set slate of holidays. So USAns might choose the US holiday schedule (1/1, Easter, 7/4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc). A Muslim group might choose the Muslim schedule. And so on. But that begs the question, is it up to the individual, or the group, to decide which holiday schedule any particular person will follow?
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