FHM.com.ph

Can you give me a breakdown of those terms?
‘Annual’ means one year. Biennial is 2 years. Quinquennial is 5 years. Decennial is 10 years. Vigintennial is 20 years. Centennial is 100 years. Quincentennial is 500 years. And millennial is 1000 years.

How about monthsaries? Is there a more formal term for it?
Well, yes there is! Monthly commemorations are called ‘mensiversary’ from the Latin word mensis (month) and versus (to return). It was used in a Time Magazine article titled National Affairs: 18th Mensiversary.

Now that you know it, you can greet your girlfriend the next time your monthsary comes around: “Happy 3rd mensiversary babe!” Now watch her get annoyed at you for thinking you’re teasing her monthly period.

People also use the terms ‘golden anniversary’ and ‘diamond anniversary’ right? So what’s up with those?
My, aren’t you well-informed. Yes, people also designate various naturally-occurring materials and minerals to certain anniversaries. For fifth anniversaries, it’s wood. For tenth, it’s tin. For the 15th, Crystal. For the 20th, China. For the 25th, Silver. For the 30th, Pearl. For the 40th, Ruby. For the 50th Golden. And for the 60th, Diamond. If you noticed, the quality of the symbolic materials increased as the years pile up.

These designations are mostly used for wedding anniversaries. And you can bet that not a lot reaches their diamond anniversary, because of a) dying too soon or b) divorce.

So it’s FHM Philippines’ Tin anniversary!
Yep, that is entirely correct.

When did people start doing this gold and diamond anniversary thing, anyway?
The roots of this tradition can be traced back to medieval Germany, where the story goes that a married couple was given a silver wreath by their neighbors on the day of their 25th wedding anniversary.

Eventually, they were given a golden wreath 25 years later (neighbors were much more generous then), and that is where this tradition started.