Lunar calendars have been used since ancient times, with evidence dating back 32,000 years. The Mayan, Babylonian, and Chinese civilizations all used lunar calendars for agricultural and religious purposes. The Islamic calendar is the only purely lunar calendar still in use today.
A lunar calendar is simply a calendar based on the cycles of the moon. Such calendars have been used since ancient times: archaeologists have found evidence of lunar calendars that date back 32,000 years. Some Ice Age artifacts, between about 25,000 and 10,000 BC, include canes, reindeer bones, and mammoth tusks with carved notches and holes dug into them. Many academic scholars believe these signs represent the days between lunar phases.
The Mayan Calendar was a lunar calendar system based on the agricultural requirements of living in a rainforest. The Mayans invented numerous calendar systems, but the most important was the sacred tzolkin. This calendar consisted of 260 days and had two repeating cycles. One cycle consisted of 13 numbered days and the other cycle consisted of 20 named days.
The Babylonian calendar was another lunar calendar system. This calendar consisted of 12 months which alternated between 29 days and 30 days. Months with 29 days were called “empty”, while those with 30 days were called “full”. The Babylonians eventually switched to the Egyptian calendar system, which was 12 months and 30 days long. This calendar has been in use for over 3,000 years, not falling out of favor until about 238 BC.
The Chinese originally used a lunar calendar system to determine the best times to plant, harvest, and celebrate their many religious festivals. Although most modern Chinese citizens use the western solar calendar for the more practical matters of their daily lives, the old lunar calendar is still used to determine the dates of holidays and festivals. The Chinese people have long accepted this coexistence of two different calendar systems.
The only purely lunar calendar that is widely used today is the Islamic calendar, which is called the Hijri calendar. Years always have 12 lunar months. Due to the variable length of these lunar months, this calendar cannot be linked to the seasons. While the Hijri calendar is the official calendar in Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, other Muslim countries only use the Islamic calendar for religious purposes and use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes.
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