There are three main calendars: the Western/Christian/Gregorian, Islamic/Hijri, and Hebrew/Jewish. They differ in their main events, month/year length, and start of day. The Gregorian calendar is based on the Julian calendar and Christ’s birth. The Islamic calendar is based on the emigration of Prophet Muhammad, while the Jewish calendar is based on the creation. The Chinese calendar is also popular and starts at 11:2600.
There are three main calendars based on different ways of keeping time: the Western calendar, also called the Christian calendar or the Gregorian calendar; the Islamic calendar or Hijri; and the Hebrew or Hebrew calendar. Among the differences between these calendars are the main events on which they are based, the length of the months and years, and the start of the day.
Perhaps the most basic way to classify calendars is by their main event, i.e. what the calendar is based on. The Christian calendar is a solar calendar based on the birth of Christ. In religious and traditional secular usage, years are labeled BC for Before Christ or AD, Anno Domini (in the year of our Lord). Increasingly, secular usages employ a new system of marking that fails to recognize that dates correspond to the birth of Christ. Mark the year as BCE or CE, where BCE stands for Before the Common Era and CE stands for Current Era, Common Era, or Christian Era.
The Gregorian calendar is generally used synonymously with the Western calendar and the Christian calendar, but is actually named after Pope Gregory XIII. It has a year of 12 months and 365 days, 366 in a leap year, which occurs by adding a day to February every four years. While the Gregorian calendar is based on the Julian calendar – a calendar was introduced around 45 BC by Julius Caesar after consulting an astronomer – it is also based on the year of Christ’s birth. This calendar tried to improve on its predecessors, creating a more regular format than the lunar calendars and the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar took over from the Julian calendar towards the end of the 16th century.
The Islamic calendar is based on the emigration of the Prophet Muhammad and his Muslim companions, the Companions or Sahabah, from Mecca to Medina. The emigration was said to have been commanded by God after many years of Muslim persecution and to have occurred in 622 AD according to the Western calendar, or 4382 AM (Anno Mundi, or in the year of the world) according to the Jewish calendar. Hirah in Arabic means emigration hence Islamic calendar is also called Hijri calendar. The years before the emigration are labeled BH, Before the Hijra, while the years after the emigration are labeled AH, Year Hijra or In the Year of the Hijra. The calendar is based on the lunar year, has approximately 354 days and 12 months, each with 29 or 30 days. The names of the months are Muharram, Safar, Rabiul-Awwal, Rabi-uthani, Jumada al-awwal, Jumada al-thani, Rajab, Sha’ban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhil-Q’ada and Dhil-Hijja.
The Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar and is based on the creation that is said to have occurred – around 3760 BC according to the Western calendar. The Jewish or Jewish calendar has 353 to 385 days and 12 months, 13 in a leap year. Months have 29 or 30 days: Nissan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul, Tishri, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat and Adar. In a leap year, Adar I is placed after Shevat and the existing month of Adar is called Adar II, the thirteenth month. While the Western and Islamic calendars have a new year starting with the first month, the new year under the Jewish calendar begins in the seventh, not the first, month of the year.
Another way these types of calendars differ is when the new day begins. In the Julian, Gregorian, Western and Christian calendars, the day begins at midnight. The Islamic and Jewish calendars, however, begin at sunset.
There are many other types of calendars; the western calendar is perhaps the most popular, however. Another popular type of calendar, the Chinese calendar, is still used today for Chinese holidays and astrological purposes. It is a lunisolar calendar with 12 months in a regular year and 13 months in every second or third year. Days in the Chinese calendar start at 11:2600, not midnight. While there is some dispute as to when the Chinese calendar began, most believe it started somewhere around 2500-2500 BC.
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