A golden number is a number from 1 to 19, the number of any year in the lunar Metonic cycle of 19 years. It was important in the ecclesiastical calendar as a device to aid in fixing the dates of Church festivals, such as Easter. Years with the same golden number have full moons occurring on the same dates, with a possible variation of one day. The golden number for any year is found by dividing the year number by 19 and adding one to the remainder. For example, on dividing 1949 by 19 there is a quotient 102 and a remainder 11; the golden number for 1949 is therefore 12.
