Middle Eastern Calendar Traditions

The Hebrew calendar has months of 29 or 30 days tied to the Moon and adds a thirteenth month, Adar I, in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14...

The Hijri calendar is purely lunar, with 12 months of 29 or 30 days and no intercalation, so it moves through the seasons in a...

The Solar Hijri calendar, official in Iran and also used in Afghanistan, counts years from the Hijra of 622 but follows the Sun...

The Babylonian calendar began each month at the first sighting of the crescent moon and its year in spring with the month...

Zoroastrian calendars have twelve months of 30 days, each day dedicated to a divinity, plus five Gatha days. Disputes over...

The Hebrew calendar counts years from a traditional date of creation corresponding to 3761 BCE in the proleptic Julian calendar...

Islamic years are counted from the Hijra, Muhammad's migration from Mecca to Medina in 622. Because the Hijri year is about 11...

The Seleucid era counts from Seleucus I's recapture of Babylon, in autumn 312 BCE in the Macedonian reckoning or spring 311 BCE...

The Ottoman Empire's Rumi civil calendar was aligned with Gregorian dates in 1917 but still numbered its years from the Hijra. As...

The arithmetical, or tabular, Islamic calendar adds a day to Dhu al-Hijjah in 11 years of every 30, giving years of 354 or 355...

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is celebrated on 1 and 2 Tishrei, in September or early October. The Hebrew calendar's...

Passover begins on 15 Nisan, the night of the full moon of the first spring month, and lasts seven days in Israel and eight...

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed with fasting from dawn to sunset. Because the Hijri year is about 11...

Nowruz, the Persian new year, begins at the moment of the March equinox and opens the Solar Hijri year in Iran and Afghanistan...

Zoroastrians count years from the accession of the last Sasanian king, Yazdegerd III, in 632 CE, an era the community kept after...

Ptolemy dated ancient observations from the first regnal year of the Babylonian king Nabonassar, beginning 26 February 747 BCE in...

Eclipses recur after 223 synodic months, about 18 years and 11 days, because the Sun, Moon and lunar nodes return to nearly the...

Tishrei opens the Hebrew civil year even though the Torah numbers months from Nisan, a reminder that the calendar holds two year...

Muharram is the first month of the Hijri year and one of the four sacred months in which fighting was traditionally forbidden...

The festival of breaking the fast falls on 1 Shawwal, the month after Ramadan, and is celebrated with communal prayer, feasting...

The Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish year, runs from sunset on 9 Tishrei to nightfall on 10, a 25 hour fast with...