[Ansteorra] Happy New Year - Again!

[Galen of Ockham, OP via Ansteorra]

Tonight (Sept 13) at sunset begins Anno Mundi 5776 in the Hebrew 
calendar (Jewish days start at sunset, probably based on the formula in 
Genesis 1 "and the evening and the morning were the [Nth] day"). The 
Hebrew calendar is a solar/lunar calendar. Months in most calendar 
systems approximate the cycle of the moon, but since it takes 29 days, 
12 hrs, 44 min, and 3 sec to go from new moon to new moon, you just 
can't fit even number of months in a year (ok, maybe with new math, but 
I'm not going there), so the basic calendar falls 11 days short of a 
year. To keep the lunar cycle and the solar cycle in sync, the Hebrew 
calendar uses a complex 19 year cycle of leap months inserting a full 
month every 2 or 3 years. This keeps the Hebrew calendar pretty close to 
being in sync, losing one day per 231 years against the Gregorian calendar.

Traditions include blowing the ram's horn trumpet (shofar), eating 
apples and honey to symbolize the sweetness of the new year and wishing 
everyone "l'shanah tovah tikatevu" - "may you be inscribed [in the book 
of life] for a good year".Or maybe in Ansteorra we can get by with 
"shanah tovah y'all".

May you all enjoy the fruits of this new year!

-- 
Magister Galenus Ockhamnesis xb
Friar Galen of Ockham, MC, OP

/Physikis et Astronomus/

A Study in Natural Philosophy http://medievalscience.org
Chirurgeon's Point http://chirurgeon.org