Calendar

In the 3rd millennium BC in the Sumerian city of Nippur there appeared a local calendar, which at the beginning of the 2nd millennium became the common Babylonian calendar. The Jews, Syrians, Persians and the Greek created a well-known zodiacal astrology on its basis.

The lunar calendar system, dating back to Sumerians, is currently used in modern Near and the Middle East alongside the Solar Gregorian calendar. This is the Muslim calendar of the lunar Hijjri (from the Arabic "resettlement"). The initial time point in this calendar is the night from the 15th to the 16th of July of the year 622, Julian calendar. At this moment, according to the Muslim tradition Prophet Muhammad moved from Mecca to Medina. Such a calendar is in use in Algiers, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Western Sahara, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey and in Israel, where the main calendar is the Jewish lunar-solar one, counting the years by the Sun, and the months - by the Moon.

The year 2006 in the Gregorian calendar corresponds to the year 1427 of the lunar Hijjri. As the lunar year is shorter than the solar one by 264 hours its months do not coincide with the seasons. To eliminate this drawback in some Muslim countries (Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan) alongside the lunar Hijjri Kamari one uses the Sun (solar) Hijjri Shamsi, where the initial year is also 622, but further counting is done by the solar calendar. March 21 is considered the first day of the first month of the first year - the so called day of vernal equinox.

The multiplicity of calendar systems is aggravated by the numerous reforms of the lunar-solar calendars in Turkey and Iran; the presence of specific calendars in various religious groups (for example the calendar of the Egyptian Christian Copts is based on the solar calendar of the Ancient Egypt). To transfer the date from one calendar system to another a vast majority of synchronizing tables and calendars are published; and in the press and many official documents the dates are indicated according to Hijjri and Gregorian calendar Anno Domini (A D).

Summer Midday in the Mountains of Lebanon.      Lebanon. M. Solonenko. 2006.		Nomadic Tribes Return from the Summer Pasturage     to the Winter Dwellings. Afghanistan. The Afghans. 1924.