Judaism

Lunisolar structure

The Jewish calendar is lunisolar—i.e., regulated by the positions of both the Moon and the Sun. It consists usually of 12 alternating lunar months of 29 and 30 days each (except for Ḥeshvan and Kislev, which sometimes have either 29 or 30 days) and totals 353, 354, or 355 days per year. The average lunar year (354 days) is adjusted to the solar year (365¹/₄ days) by the periodic introduction of leap years in order to assure that the major festivals fall in their proper seasons. The leap year consists of an additional 30-day month called First Adar, which always precedes the month of (Second) Adar. A leap year consists of either 383, 384, or 385 days and occurs seven times during every 19-year period (the Metonic cycle). Among the consequences of the lunisolar structure are these: the number of days in a year may vary considerably, from 353 to 385 days; and the first day of a month can fall on any day of the week, that day varying from year to year. Consequently, the days of the week upon which an annual Jewish festival falls vary from ... (200 of 86,975 words)