* Should I use Date Phrases?

[elevator]

I do quite a bit of research in Norway and in church records there the use of "Church Dates" are quite common. So we can have dates like "Easter Sunday" or "Pentecost", etc. In fact, every day of the year can be specified in this manner by referencing it to a named Sunday in the church calendar. Since these are the "dates" that are actually recorded in the primary sources I have diligently recorded these dates in their original formats as irregular dates, and then transferred these to FH7 as "Date Phrases" with the interpreted date set to a real calendar date. But as I become more familiar with the program and read up on it more, it seems like some people are hesitant to use the "Date Phrases" tab in FH7. Is this done to improve the readability of reports and charts, or could there be another reason? I feel like using the "Date Phrases" with an associated "Interpreted Date" is the most appropriate way because that is how the dates are presented in the actual primary source. Would there be any reason why I shouldn't do this, or am I safe to continue my rather frequent use of the "Date Phrases"?

Any insights appreciated! Thanks,
Ken.

[LornaCraig]

Personally I think your approach is appropriate because, as you say, it preserves the information about the way the date was recorded in the original record. Some people don't like the appearance of quotation marks round the date phrase in reports, so an alternative would be to record the calendar date but add a note to the fact explaining how the date was recorded in the original document.

The main danger with date phrases is that if they are not given an Interpreted Date you lose the ability to sort by dates or search by dates in queries. But as long as you add an Interpreted date this is not a problem.

[elevator]

Thank you Lorna, that's reassuring to hear. Yes, every single Date Phrase has an associated Interpreted Date and in the few cases where interpreting a date was impossible; I estimated one and made a note in the note field for the event. Admittedly, it does look a little ugly in charts and so perhaps, ideally, there would be an option to use the interpreted date in charts. But frankly, it's not a big deal, I feel that accurately recording the data is more important. Thanks again!