Peter Dyballa writes: > I think it's close to impossible to reproduce the bug when launching GNU Emacs with -Q, because dates in diary file are read and they must be interpreted the proper way, the European and natural way, as day - month - year (or in reverse): > > %%(diary-anniversary 4 6 1862) Geburt von Karl Valentin in München-Au als Valentin Ludwig Fey %d Jahren > %%(diary-anniversary 4 6 2020) Tod von Rupert Neville Hine > > Today all my versions of GNU Emacs 28.x report that it's the birth date of Karl Valentin and the death date of Rupert Hine: > > Sunrise 06 Uhr 53, sunset 20 Uhr 04 at Friedberg (13:11 hrs daylight) > Geburt von Karl Valentin in München-Au als Valentin Ludwig Fey 160 Jahren > Tod von Rupert Neville Hine > > The versions 27.x display that today's date (probably) was not much meaningful for the two men. I'm not sure I understand what you mean here, but perhaps I'm not reproducing the problem correctly. If I put the following inn ~/.emacs.d/diary, and then start Emacs 27.1 with -Q, and then say `M-x diary': %%(diary-anniversary 4 7 1862) Geburt von Karl Valentin in München-Au als Valentin Ludwig Fey %d Jahren %%(diary-anniversary 4 7 2020) Tod von Rupert Neville Hine I get