Does the Bible recognize January 1st as the New Year?

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   Lightbearersposted 16 years ago

   No!!  So, why should we Christians continue using the Gregorian Calendar which confused us totally? Originally, January was the 11th month on that calendar and the 12th month was February.  And it was more closely related to the Biblical Calendar, which began around March-April.

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   LondonGirlposted 16 years ago

   Most of the Bible uses the Jewish calendar, I presume?

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   LegendaryN8posted 16 years ago

   What do you mean by a "bible calendar"?
   
   I don't think there is such a thing as a Jewish-oriented calendar.
   
   At any rate, maybe this might be helpful:
   
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_calendars

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      C. C. Riterposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Yes there is. It's the Hebrew calendar, still in use by some.

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         Cris Aposted 16 years agoin reply to this

         I sure hope you know what you're doing here, C!

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   C. C. Riterposted 16 years ago

   yes Cris, I know what you mean. But I am not going to debate. What's the point? I should stay out I guess. But like you, I am as a moth drawn to the flame.

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      Cris Aposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Aaah a man after my very own heart indeed. LOL Okay I'll leave you bee... sleep is calling, and I am drawn like bee to honey

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   Denny Lyonposted 16 years ago

   As far as I know the Jewish calendar New Year begins around the Fall Solstice which was September 21st this past year.  That's the tradition of sweeping out the house, cleaning top to bottom and the like, basically refreshing all the furnishings and creating a more hygenic environment.  Gives a new beginning in a tactile way for the family as they all join in to clean their house.
   
   You do raise a good question though about the New Testament for Christians and not following the Jewish calendar any more.  Maybe the early Christians transitioned out of the Jewish tradition as various sects of Christianity began to splinter off and away from their Jewish roots?  Maybe it had to do with the Roman persecution period of centuries that flung them out to various parts of the known world which was under Roman rule and so they absorbed the Roman culture and calendar over time?
   
   Now you have me thinking to go research and maybe come up with a hub.

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      LondonGirlposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      I have a hub on why the first day of the year is Jan. 1st. Before the 16th to 18th centuries, it was Lady Day instead.

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   LegendaryN8posted 16 years ago

   Just as a personal note to you guys, I don't do the whole religion debate thing.
   
   Basically because if I did, I don't think it would be a fair fight! = D
   
   If you want to know more about how religions and cultures use calendars, look at their historical records.
   
   Some cultures date their history on the length of the reign of the person who is the emperor or chief of their realm.
   
   I guess this is why western civilization and christian oriented civilizations use A.D (anno domini - in the year of our lord).
   
   Contemporary usage is C.E - current era.  Current era still follows dating via the birth of the Christian demi-god named "Jesus of Nazareth", but C.E. sounds less religious by nature... making it easier for science to use it as a method of historical dating.

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   Make Moneyposted 16 years ago

   The "Lady" is the Virgin Mary.  Catholics celebrate the feast of Mary, the Mother of God on Jan 1st.

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   LondonGirlposted 16 years ago

   Lady Day is the celebration of the annuciation, in late March.

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      Make Moneyposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      The "Lady" is still the Virgin Mary.  See Lady Day  And we still celebrate the feast of Mary, the Mother of God on Jan 1st.  It has to do with the change from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar.

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         LondonGirlposted 16 years agoin reply to this

         You've lost me. That's what I said!

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   Make Moneyposted 16 years ago

   Above you said this.
   
   
   All I am saying is that the feast of Mary is still celebrated on Jan. 1st, it's just not called Lady Day any more.  Sounds like we are in agreement.
   
   The history of the change from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar is real confusing.  Especially when you get into the dates the different countries changed to the Gregorian Calendar.  Some European countries didn't change for about 200 years later.
   
   Edit - I just read your Hub.  Yeah "Julius Caesar in 46 BC, because the system used previously had allowed "drift" in that the calculations were not exact and therefore the months of the year had moved according to the weather and the time the earth took to rotate once."  The change to the Gregorian Calendar was for the same "drift" but because of the time of year that Easter fell on.

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    TrophyManposted 16 years ago

    "Does the Bible recognize January 1st as the New Year?"
    
    No.
    
    There are various calendars in use today and throughout history.  All have attempted to mark time/days/months/years based on solar or lunar calendrical cycles, or a combination.
    
    The Hebrew Calendar combines both a Solar (365 1/4) days per year with a Lunar (12 months of between 29 and 30 days fixed on a 19 year cycle of alternating 'short' or 'long' months and leap years of 13 months)
    
    Muslims use a Lunar calendar, which is why Ramadan can sometimes occur in the winter or summer - they are losing approx. 11 days per year (the difference between Solar and Lunar cycles).  This is because 12 months of 29.5 days is 354 days/year.  Therefore, each month moves throughout the seasons because of this discrepancy.
    
    Christians/the rest of the world use a Julian calendar, which is basically a Gregorian calendar but adjusted several centuries ago to include a leap year every 4 years, except for certain exceptions (turns of the century).  You can look up the details why this was done, and when and the difference between Gregorian and Julian calendars.
    
    The Hebrew Calendar has years of alternating 12 or 13 months every few years (called 'leap years' for years with 13 months) to adjust for the 11 day difference between Lunar and Solar calendrical cycles.
    
    The Bible (Old Testament/Torah) marks dates based on the Hebrew Calendar - therefore, the start of the year is Rosh Hashana (1 Tishrei - the first Hebrew month of the year).  'Rosh Hashana' means 'Head of the Year'.
    
    However, there is also a 2nd 'new year' 6 months later (1 Nissan - which is relevant only to Jews and the birth of the nation and used only as a 'new year' for certain calculations like crop harvests, etc. I won't get into).
    
    So, no, January 1st was invented by Gentiles.  HOWEVER, G-D marks time with the nations and therefore there is significance to the date only because the world at large references it.
    
    As far as when the ACTUAL New Year begins, it is 1 Tishrei, which will come out 'around' Sept/Oct each year but doesn't have a direct relationship to the Julian calendar per se'
    
    What determines a 'leap year' (adding an additional 13th month) is the requirement to insure that Pesach (Passover) is observed in the spring. 
    
    The 'new month' used to be determined by eye witnesses that were interrogated by the Sanhedrin (Jewish High Court in Jerusalem) as to when/where/how they observed the new moon.
    
    Based on this testimony of witnesses, the new month was determined to start either on the 30th or 31st day after the previous new month (Rosh Chodesh).
    
    However, since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Hebrew Calendar has been fixed based on calculations so testimony by witnesses is no longer used to determine new month, and therefore how many days in a month and which years are 'leap years' is all calculated in advance and fixed until the end of time.
    
    Incidentally, the Hebrew Calendar ALWAYS has a new month beginning when there is a new moon.  The Julian calendar does not - that's why you need to look up when there is a full moon, new moon, etc.
    
    Using the Jewish/Hebrew Calendar, one always knows when is a 'new moon' or 'full moon' - a full moon is ALWAYS the 15th of month, and the new moon is always 'Rosh Chodesh' (translation: Head of the Month, or the 1st of the month) give or take a few hours due to the 'fixing' of the calendar mathematically instead of relying on witnesses.

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    Make Moneyposted 16 years ago

    Yeah Passover for Jews or Easter for Christians.  Easter is the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon.  It's interesting to note that in all Romance languages the name of the Easter festival is derived from the Latin Pascha. In Spanish, Easter is la Pascua.
    
    In all modern Celtic languages the term for Easter is derived from Latin. In Brythonic languages this has yielded Welsh Pasg, Cornish and Breton Pask. In Goidelic languages the word was borrowed before these languages had re-developed the /p/ sound and as a result the initial /p/ was replaced with /k/. This yielded Irish Cáisc, Gaelic Càisg and Manx Caisht. These terms are normally used with the definite article in Goidelic languages, causing lenition in all cases: An Cháisc, A' Chàisg and Y Chaisht.
    
    Same for Arabic or other Semitic languages, Slavic, Scandinavian, Finno-Ugric and most other languages.
    
    From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter

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