Discovering the Jewish Calendar
It was Hillel II who created a standarised Jewish calendar and leap year. It meant that holidays could be celebrated on the same date every year for Jews.
A Jewish calendar has months that have 29 or 30 days and the years can either be composed of 12 or 13 months. Beacuse it actually takes 12.4 lunar months to complete a yearly cycle (365 and a quarter days), a year does not divide neatly into 12 months. In older times, people would have to rely on seeing a new moon to know when a month began. The Rosh Chodesh- or first day of the month - is always announced b the Sanhendrin. Another factor in deciding the number of months in the year has to do with the agricultural year. It will take 19 years for a full cycle to repeat itself.There are an extra 7 months during this time.
Hebrew Calendar
Hebrew or Jewish calendar is the official calendar of Israel.Each month starts and ends once the new moon is seen. Months in the Hebrew calendar are called: Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul, Tishrei, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat and Adar. It’s because of the leap year (where an extra day is created) that enables holidays to be celebrated on the same date every year.
Festivals
Jewish festivals, which were brought up to the present, are strictly observed in various ways. Because these festivals reflect Jewish culture and history, they are held to be important, and form the backbone of the Hebrew calendar.
Holidays in the Jewish Calendar
Jews place a great deal of importance on celebrating the holiday dates in the calendar. As well as anything else, the holidays give people the chance to reflect on the passing year. They also have the benefit of bringing the community closer together. The day of rest is the Shabbat (or Sabbath) and is the most important day of the week.The other festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot and the two High Holy Days, which are Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the main festivals. Working on these days is strictly being prohibited
Jewish days start during sunset so in celebrating the holidays, usually some confusion arises.Some still follow the ancient practice of adding an extra day to their holidays while others stick to having the holiday just for a day. Normally though, a family will get together on the evening before the main day’s festival activities occur.
For a calendar with all major world religions’ holidays, check out our international calendar which can be totally customized to suit your business! The international calendar also contains a lot of useful information including a metric converter, 16 full page months and the dates of all holidays around the world.
