Enoch calendar
Encyclopedia
The Enoch calendar is an ancient calendar
described in the pseudepigraphal Book of Enoch
. It divided the year into four seasons of exactly 13 weeks each. Each such season consisted of two 30-day months followed by one 31-day month, and the 31st day ended the season, so that Enoch's Year consisted of exactly 364 days.
There is some evidence that the group whose writings were found at Qumran
used a variation of the Enoch calendar (see Essenes' calendar).
The Enoch calendar was purportedly given to Enoch by the angel Uriel. Four named days, inserted as the 31st day of every third month, were named instead of numbered, which "placed them outside the numbering". The Book of Enoch gives the count of 2,912 days for 8 years, which divides out to exactly 364 days per year. This specifically excludes any periodic intercalations.
Calendar expert John Pratt wrote that "The Enoch calendar has been criticized as hopelessly primitive because, with only 364 days, it would get out of sync with the seasons so quickly: in only 25 years the seasons would arrive an entire month early. Such a gross discrepancy, however, merely indicates that the method of intercalation
has been omitted." Pratt pointed out that by adding an extra week at the end of every seventh year (or Sabbatical year), and then adding two extra weeks to every fourth Sabbatical year, the calendar could be as accurate as the Julian calendar
.
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
described in the pseudepigraphal Book of Enoch
Book of Enoch
The Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work, traditionally ascribed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is not part of the biblical canon as used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel...
. It divided the year into four seasons of exactly 13 weeks each. Each such season consisted of two 30-day months followed by one 31-day month, and the 31st day ended the season, so that Enoch's Year consisted of exactly 364 days.
There is some evidence that the group whose writings were found at Qumran
Qumran
Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank. It is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalia...
used a variation of the Enoch calendar (see Essenes' calendar).
The Enoch calendar was purportedly given to Enoch by the angel Uriel. Four named days, inserted as the 31st day of every third month, were named instead of numbered, which "placed them outside the numbering". The Book of Enoch gives the count of 2,912 days for 8 years, which divides out to exactly 364 days per year. This specifically excludes any periodic intercalations.
Calendar expert John Pratt wrote that "The Enoch calendar has been criticized as hopelessly primitive because, with only 364 days, it would get out of sync with the seasons so quickly: in only 25 years the seasons would arrive an entire month early. Such a gross discrepancy, however, merely indicates that the method of intercalation
Intercalation
Intercalation is the insertion of a leap day, week or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases. Lunisolar calendars may require intercalations of both days and months.- Solar calendars :...
has been omitted." Pratt pointed out that by adding an extra week at the end of every seventh year (or Sabbatical year), and then adding two extra weeks to every fourth Sabbatical year, the calendar could be as accurate as the Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
.
External links
- John P. Pratt. Enoch Calendar Testifies of Christ. Reprinted from Meridian Magazine, September 11, 2001.