ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Saeculum

Saeculum is a big, fancy word that is used to talk about how long things last. Like when you play with your toys, they don't last forever. They eventually wear out or get old and you need new ones.

Saeculum is like that, except it's not about toys, it's about things that happen in the world. You see, everything in the world has a lifespan - just like people and animals. Some things last for a really long time, while others only last for a little while.

When people talk about saeculum, they are usually talking about how long something lasts in terms of generations of people. A generation is a group of people who were born around the same time, usually about 20-30 years apart. So when we say something lasts for one saeculum, we mean it lasts for about 80-100 years - which is about four generations.

For example, let's say we're talking about a big war. That war might last for a few years, but when we talk about it in terms of saeculum, we mean how long it affects people's lives. So if the war affected people for about 80 years, that would be one saeculum.

So in short, saeculum is a big word to describe how long something lasts in terms of people's lifetimes. It helps us understand how events and situations affect us over a long period of time instead of just in the moment.