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Jewish calendar
A system of reckoning time based on the lunar
and solar cycles. The year is comprised of twelve months,
beginning with
the new moon, having either 29 or 30 days, having a total of
354 days.
The names of the months are nisan (March/April), iyar
(April/May), sivan
(May/June), tamuz (June/July), av (July/August), elul
(August/September), tishri (September/October),
(mar)kheshvan
(October/November), kislev (November/December), tevet
(December/January), shvat (January/February), and adar
(February/March).
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The names of the months have their origins in
Babylonian tradition. Because the lunar year is shorter than
the solar
one, every two or three years there is an additional month,
adar sheni
[Hebrew, "second adar"], thanks to which the months fall
during the same
time of year. Each year one day is also either added or
subtracted from
the month of kheshvan (or markheshvan) and kislev, which
have 29 or 30
days. The Jewish calendar's full cycle takes nineteen years.
The liturgical year begins in spring, from the month of
nisan,
during which the holiday of Pesach (Passover) is observed.
The new
calendar year, however, begins the first day of the month
tishri (Rosh
Hashanah). The week begins with Sunday [Hebrew, yom alef =
"first day"],
and ends on Saturday, or the Sabbath. The six days of the
week do not
have names, but instead have numbers. The day is marked from
sundown to
sundown, which is why all holidays begin the evening
[Hebrew, erev] of
the previous day. For example, the Sabbath begins on Friday
after
sundown, at various times, depending on the time of year. A
vestige of
this tradition in Christianity is Christmas Eve.
(H.W./CM)
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