Re: Intercalation & Calendar Numbers (was: samhain?)

On Thu, Nov 04, 2004 at 06:58:28PM +0200, Steg Belsky wrote:
> >That very question is no doubt why the count still starts  with Nisan
> >instead of Tishri, because then the extra month falls conveniently
> >between months 12 and 1 and may be referred to as month 13. :)
> >-Marcos
>
> Ah, if it only were that simple... ;)
> The holiday of Purim, after all, is celebrated in Adar2 in leap years,
> not Adar1... so maybe Adar1 is the intercalated one!  :P
Ah, but Adar I *is* the intercalated one; it's not just the holiday
observances, but also the number of days.  Adar II is the main Adar, and
Adar I is the extra one.  Nevertheless, month 12 is Adar in non-leap
years and Adar I in leap years, while Adar II is month 13.

> The Rokbeigalmki calendar has this problem - the extra month, Yápleg,
> that naturally falls out when there are 13 new moons from one [Southern
> Hemisphere] winter solstice to the next, is the second-to-last month,
> since the last month, Jalág, is the partial moon-cycle from the last
> new moon to the solstice; the remainder of Jalág's cycle is Ghalúb, the
> first month of the new year.
In the Chinese calendar, which uses a similar system, the intercalated
month varies in position depending on which "solar month" (30-degree arc
of the Sun's path through the Zodiac) has no new moon.  The extra month
gets the same number as the preceding month, so you have e.g. "second
month 5" between month 5 and month 6.  (And there are no month names,
only numbers).

-Marcos
>
> -Stephen (Steg)
>  "Ezekiel... he has like the crazy thing!"
>      ~ brilliant biblical commentary by n

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