Re: Hebrew calendar direction

On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 22:09:37 +1300, Wesley Parish
<wes.parish@...> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@...>
> Poster:       Wesley Parish <wes.parish@...>
> Subject:      Re: [OT] Hebrew calendar direction
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 02:58, Shaul Vardi wrote:
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Constructed Languages List
> > > [mailto:CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU] On Behalf Of Mark J. Reed
> > > Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 3:34 PM
> > > To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
> > > Subject: Re: [OT] Hebrew calendar direction
> > >
> > > On Fri, Feb 11, 2005 at 03:24:32AM +0100, Jean-François Colson wrote:
> > > > Just look there:
> > > > http://www.geocities.com/mutmainaa/kids/islam/months.html
> > >
> > > Thanks!
> > >
> > > > Rabi al-Awwal - The First Spring
> > > >
> > > > Rabi ath-Thani - The Second Spring
> > >
> > > [snip]
> > >
> > > Are those literal translations of the names?  I find it quite
> > > surprising that the Islamic calendar, which has absolutely no
> > > seasonal anchors, would have months named after seasons and
> > > weather conditions.  Holy misnomers!
>
> The Islamic calendar is lunar, not solar.  Its seasonal swings are quite
> predictable, though not "ordinary" to anyone using the solar calendar.
> >
> > The translations are absolutely literal.  Interesting indeed.
>
> Muharram?  I link that with "haram", which doesn't mean "sacred' as far as I
> know.  Unless it is pre-Islamic, which wouldn't surprise me.
I'd not be surprised if it is pre-Islamic, as it seems people are
pretty resistant to giving up calendrical systems or changing them,
especially when they get incorporated into the religious system. Look
at our Calendrical system - many of the months represent Roman pagan
months, but of course no one (except maybe Roman reconstructionists)
celebrate the religious aspect of the months.


> Dhul Hijjah - that's pre-Islamic.  The Qabah Sanctuary was sacred to all the
> warring tribes, so - like the Greeks with the Olympic Games, a truce was
> declared for the purposes of the Hajj.
It's interesting that the Qabah sanctuary had not been demolished.
Although i've heard there are other pre-Islamic sanctuaries or special
places that used to be pre-Islamic worship sites. I'd also read that
the many idols within it (or that were within it) represented the god
or gods sacred to each tribe, which were deposited within the Qabah
sanctuary.


--
You can turn away from me
but there's nothing that'll keep me here you know
And you'll never be the city guy
Any more than I'll be hosting The Scooby Show

Scooby Show - Belle and Sebastian

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