Tag: calendar

Calendars of the Ancient Near East

Access ancient Jewish, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Roman calendars to better understand the Bible

The two primary parameters that shape human thinking, regardless of culture, antiquity, or language, are space and time…spacetime for the physicists among us. It is difficult to understand any communication without a common understanding of these parameters. Such simple phrases as “See you tomorrow” require both parties to have a similar understanding of “tomorrow”.

The Bible records over 4,000 of history, from the earliest human settlements from Mesopotamia to Arabia to the cosmopolitan Roman Empire. It thus covers dozens of cultures, nations, and tribes, each with their own understanding of space and time. The Quran doesn’t do this, and neither do the Vedas, the Tripitaka, or any Sutra. The Bible stands alone – no other book is like it.

Continue reading “Calendars of the Ancient Near East”

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Calendar Highlights 2017

Calendar Highlights 2017

Important days

1 Jan – New Year’s Day (US)

4 Jan – Perihelion (earth is closest to the sun, 91,404,401 million miles)

6 Jan – Golden Ratio Day (1.6/1, found in the Pyramids of Giza and many other areas of art, literature, and culture)

6 Jan – Epiphany/Three Kings Day (Church tradition – the Magi Melchior, Caspar, Belshazzar visited the Holy Family)

16 Jan – Martin Luther King Jr, Day

20 Jan – US Presidential Inauguration Day

7 Feb – E Day (2/7, used in exponential and logarithmic functions)

11 Feb – Penumbral eclipse of the moon

12 Feb – Septuagesima Sunday (ninth Sunday before Easter)

12 Feb – Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday

20 Feb – President’s Day

22 Feb – Washington’s Birthday

26 Feb – Annual eclipse of the sun

28 Feb – Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras (feasting and celebration before Lent)

1 Mar – Ash Wednesday (first day of Lent)

14 Mar – Pi Day (3.14159, the radius constant of a circle)

20 Mar – Vernal Equinox (0629 EDT)

9 Apr – Palm Sunday (Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem)

10 Apr – Passover begins at sunset (commemoration of the Israelite’s release from Egypt)

14 Apr – Good Friday (the day Jesus was crucified)

16 Apr – Easter (the day Jesus rose from the dead)

16 Apr – Orthodox Easter (Easter as celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Church

21 May – Rogation Sunday (prayer and fasting preceding the Ascension)

25 May – Ascension Day (the day Jesus ascended into heaven)

26 May – Ramadan begins at sunset (a month of fasting to commemorate Muhammad receiving the Koran)

29 May – Memorial Day

4 Jun – Whitsunday/Pentecost (celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit)

11 Jun – Trinity Sunday (first Sunday after Pentecost, celebrating the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost)

14 Jun – Flag Day and US Army birthday

18 Jun – Corpus Christi (second Sunday after Pentecost, honoring the Holy Eucharist)

21 Jun – Summer solstice (0024 EDT)

28 Jun – Tau Day, the other circle constant (6.28318)

3 Jul – Aphelion (earth is farthest from the sun, 94,505,982 million miles)

4 Jul – Independence Day

22 Jul – Pi Approximation Day (22/7 in military and European notation)

7 Aug – Partial eclipse of the moon

21 Aug – Total eclipse of the sun

4 Sep – Labor Day

8 Sep – Gravity Day (9.8 m/s2 is the gravitational acceleration at sea level averaged across the earth

18 Sep – US Air Force birthday

20 Sep – Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year, day of shouting/blasting, Yom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה‎))

22 Sep – Autumnal equinox (1602 EDT)

29 Sep – Yom Kippur (Jewish Day of Atonement)

8 Oct – Light Speed Day (3×108 m/s)

9 Oct – Columbus Day

10 Oct – Powers of 10 Day (10/10)

13 Oct – US Navy birthday

19 Oct – Diwali (Hindu festival of lights, celebrating the victory of good over evil)

19 Oct – Diwali (Jain festival of lights, marking the attainment of moksha by the fordmaker Mahavira)

19 Oct – Diwali (Newar Buddhist (Vajrayana Buddhism – Kathmandu, Nepal) celebration by worshipping Lakshmi)

19 Oct – Bandi Chhor Divas (Sikh festival commemorating the release of Hargobind/Gwalior, the sixth Guru, from Mughal imprisonment)

23 Oct – Mole Day (Avogadro’s number is 6×1023)

31 Oct – Halloween

10 Nov – US Marine Corp birthday

11 Nov – Veteran’s Day

23 Nov – Thanksgiving Day

23 Nov – Fibonacci Day (Fibonacci sequence is 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34… It describes many natural phenomena)

3 Dec – First Sunday of Advent (the celebration of the coming of Christ)

12 Dec – Chanukah (Jewish festival of lights, celebration of the Maccabees’ victory over Antiochus IV Epiphanes )

12 Dec – Gross Day (12×12)

21 Dec – Winter solstice (1128 EDT)

25 Dec – Christmas Day

Chronological Cycles

  1. Dominical Letter Cycle (for calculating dates such as Easter) – A
  2. Epact (the age of the moon in days on January 1. It is used in calculating the date of Easter, and varies by 11 days from year to year because of the difference between the solar and lunar years) – 2
  3. Golden Number Lunar Cycle (Year’s position in a 19-year Metonic cycle, used to calculate the date of Easter. Calculation = Year/19, taking the remainder and adding 1. 2017/19 gives a remainder of 3+1=4) – 4
  4. Roman Indiction (a fiscal period of 15 years used for dating and transactions. For example, periodic reassessments for agricultural or land taxes) – 10th year
  5. Solar Cycle (periodic 11-year change in the sun’s activity and appearance, such as luminosity and sun spots. Activity typically peaks towards the middle of the cycle) – 10
  6. Year of Julian Period (chronological system used mainly by astronomers and based on the consecutive numbering of days from Jan. 1, 4713 BC) – 6730

Eras

1 Jan – Japanese year 2677

14 Jan – Roman (AUC) year 2770

28 Jan – Chinese (lunar) year 4715

22 Mar – Indian year 1939

19 Apr – Nabonassar year 2766

11 Sep – Diocletian year 1734

14 Sep – Byzantine year 7526

14 Sep – Grecian year 2329

20 Sep (sundown) – Jewish year 5778

20 Sep (sundown) – Islamic year (Hegira) 1439

14 Oct – Seleucid year 2329