Solar? Lunar? or Lunar-Solar? If it is important to worship on a specific day (the Sabbath) than it is of vital importance that the correct method of counting be used to find that day. In other words, the correct calendar must be used. Time can only be measured by movement. There are three main types of calendars: Solar calendar (The modern civil calendar, the Gregorian calendar, is a solar calendar.) Lunar calendar (The religious calendar used by Muslims is a lunar calendar.) Luni-solar calendar (This is also sometimes called the Lunar-Solar calendar.) History and archeology reveal that all ancient civilizations used luni-solar calendars. While the Egyptians were the first to adopt a strictly solar calendar, their original calendar was also a lunar-solar calendar. This ancient and highly accurate method of time calculation ties lunar months to the solar year by some observable point in nature. A solar year is 365 days long. The lunar year is 11 days shorter than the solar year. Thus, the dates of a strictly lunar calendar float through the seasons of the solar year. Various cultures that used a lunar-solar calendar, anchored the lunar months to different points in the solar year. Some, like the ancient Egyptians, used the rising of the star, Sirius, at the time of the summer solstice. Others, such as the Aztecs and the Maya, used the winter solstice for their new year. More recently, when France adopted a different calendar during the French Revolution, their year briefly began at the autumn equinox. (For further information on French and Soviet calendar reform, see Changing Weeks: Hiding Sabbath.) Historical evidence shows that by far the majority of ancient calendars began their year in the spring, at or near the time of the spring (vernal) equinox. The Israelites also used a luni-solar calendar and began their year in the spring. Both their annual feasts and the seventh-day Sabbath were calculated by the lunar-solar calendar that had been established by the Creator at the very beginning of the world.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 20:41:21 +0000
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