Prior to that the year used to finish on March 25, quite similar to the old persians. This is a religious question.
2006-06-20 10:34:35 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Yes, "Dec" as in "Decimal" means 10 and it is where we get "December" from. Likewise "Novus" is Latin for 9. "Oct" like in "Octive" refers to 8, Sept is 7. It was August (Augusus Ceaser) and July (Julius Ceasar) that caused the numbering to be different. I suppose they decided to aim to somewhat start the year at the winter solstice, which they missed by about a week and half.
Of course, originally the month was based on the lunar cycle -- "month" and "moon" are from the same root ("new moon" and "new month" originally meaning the same thing). "Sept"ember does line up (roughly) with the Biblical 7th month when Yom Truah is held (now called "Rosh Hashannah").
Scripturally the new year starts with the new moon of the Aviv (Hebrew for "green"). They would test the new growth of barley at the new moon to determine if the barley was green and developed sufficently that they could parch the grain. If it was too early, the grain would have nothing inside the head. But this new moon would generally be the first new moon after the spring equinoxe. Whether anyone called that "March 25" back then is highly debatable.
2006-06-20 14:22:45 · answer #1 · answered by Daniel 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
December is only the tenth month linguisticly. It was made so by the addition of the months June and July. The year ends there because it is close to the winter Equinox. Some religions start the year in the spring.
2006-06-23 21:56:48 · answer #2 · answered by ryversylt 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All to do with the change from Julian to Gregorian system
http://www.mcs.drexel.edu/~gcmastra/mail/calendar.html
2006-06-20 18:02:47 · answer #3 · answered by hippoterry2005 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What religion?
2006-06-20 17:58:08 · answer #4 · answered by korngoddess1027 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋