re: #207 CuriousLurker

My Google calendar is set up to show Islamic & Jewish holidays in addition to the regular secular & Christian ones. At the beginning of November when I saw Chanukkah starting on the same day as Thanksgiving, my first reaction was surprise at how unusual it as that Chanukkah was so early (I even went elsewhere to check and make sure it wasn’t a mistake). My second reaction was, “Cool!”

It reminds me of when Thanksgiving falls during Ramadan—I believe the last time was in 2002—it was great fun, a feeling of being extra thankful. For us they coincide around every 30 years (the next one isn’t till 2033), so even if I didn’t like it, it’s not something that happens frequently enough to whine about, FFS

The Hebrew calendar is based on a lunar month, but unlike the Islamic calendar which can travel around the secular (solar) calendar, the Hebrew year is anchored by the month of Nisan, because Passover always must occur during the spring.

This means that every few years, a “leap month” is inserted before Nisan, which pushes Passover into the spring and all the other holidays which follow, also get pushed back.

5774/2014 is a “leap year” for both the solar and Hebrew calendars.