The purpose of this document is not to convince others to observe the divine appointments of the Almighty. It is to provide resource material and in-depth instruction for those who already observe these sacred times.  When one sees the validity of God’s sacred appointments, the question and desire arise to keep the correct days. Since calendar theories abound, we need to inquire as to which is the most accurate and Biblical.

 

 

The Sacred Calendar

 

 

During creation week, God set his calendar in motion.

 

And God said [on day 4], “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons [holy days], and for days, and years.” Genesis 1:14

 

There had to be a reckoning of years counting off the beginning of earth’s history and a method to track events, all the way down to the end of earth’s history.

 

 

Has God Reveled His Manner of Keeping Time?

 

Genesis 7:11 states,

 

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

 

This is the first time the Bible mentions the Sacred Calendar. The second month, or chodesh, is in progress. Noah knew the proper month according to God's manner of keeping time. He was able to pass on this information to his righteous descendents. Events concerning the dates of various aspects of the flood are meticulously laid out (Genesis 8:4, 5, 13, 14).

 

Abraham, a righteous descendent of Noah, kept God's commandments, statutes and laws (Genesis 26:5). Noah’s son Shem lived during Abraham's time. He must have passed on this calendar information that God had revealed from the beginning (like tithing, Genesis 14:20). God's monthly cycle is revealed in the Bible as an on-going practice. Most likely, it was revealed in the Garden of Eden when God instructed Adam and Eve.

 

On a specific day God made a covenant with Abraham, promising his descendents the land from the river of Egypt to the River Euphrates (Genesis 15:18). He let Abraham know that his descendents would be strangers and be afflicted 400 years, afterwards coming out with great substance (verses 13-14). On this selfsame day 430 years later, Israel came out of Egypt (Exodus 12:40-42).

 

And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. Numbers 33:3 (This is the "night to be much observed unto the LORD," Exodus 12:42.)

 

 

Worship of the Sun, Moon and Stars Tied to the Calendar

 

Even thought the moon is a reminder of our deliverance from Egypt, we were never to worship the sun, moon and stars (Deuteronomy 4:14-20). Under the civil government of the nation of Israel, the penalty for worshipping the sun, moon and of the host of heaven was severe (Deuteronomy 17:2-5).

 

Worship of the sun, moon and stars was part of the false system of Baal worship (II Kings 23:5, 11). The marginal note for the word "planets" indicates that what is meant is the twelve signs, or constellations of zodiac, the foundation for astrology. The end result of such worship is demon-possession, lunacy (Matthew 4:24, 17:15—the word for lunatic is seleeniazomai, “moon struck”).

 

The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary under Job 31:26 states that Sabaism (from tsaba, the heavenly hosts) was the earliest form of false worship. In contradistinction, God is called "Lord of Sabaoth, or Hosts." God made the heavenly hosts; he, and not they, are to be worshipped. Jamieson notes that our planetary week of Sun-day, Mon-day show traces of Sabaisin, or worship of the heavenly host.

 

Our present planetary week is of Greek origin, with traces of Babylonian influence. The names of the days of the week correspond to the seven greatest lights or "stars" one of which was thought to "rule" each day of the week. These astral bodies were held to the gods and worshipped. English names for the days of the week were derived from the Saxons, who renamed the Greek/Latin gods after their own.

 

LATIN                                     SAXON                                  ENGLISH

Dies Solis                                 Sun's Day                                 Sunday            

Dies Lunae                               Moon's Day                             Monday

Dies Martes (Mars)                  Tiw's Day                                 Tuesday

Dies Mercurii (Mercury)           Woden's Day                           Wednesday

Dies Jovis (Jupiter)                   Thor's Day                               Thursday

Dies Venens (Venus)                Frigg's Day                               Friday

Dies Saturni (Saturn)                 Seterne's Day                           Saturday

 

Our western calendar is of Roman origin. The names of the months reflect either a Roman god (January-Janus, two faced god; February-Februarius, Roman feast of purification held on February 15; March-Mars, god of war; April-Aprills, from Greek Aphrodite, goddess of love, May-Main, goddess associated with Vulcan, June-Juno, a Roman goddess), a Roman emperor (July-Julius Caesar, August-Augustus Caesar), or the number of the month (September-the seventh month, October, November, December, the eighth, ninth and tenth months).

 

Originally, March was the first month, and February was the last month (with the intercalary February 29 added at the end of the year). In 153 BC, January was recognized as the first month. Julius Caesar reformed the old Roman calendar in 45 BC, and Pope Gregory further modified it in 1582, thus cementing it’s Roman nature, and is the system used by most of the world today.

 

Pagan to the core, the calendar and planetary week of the world masks and precludes the true Sacred Calendar God wants us to follow, to keep in mind His Sabbath, Feast Days and New Moons.

 

 

God’s Calendar and the Law

 

The calendar is not just something interesting to study, but it is part of God’s law, as seen in this passage:

 

Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. It is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out over the land of Egypt… Psalm 81:3-5

 

Blow the horn for the new month, for the full moon on the day of our pilgrim feast. This is a law for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob laid as a solemn charge on Joseph when he came out of Egypt… Psalm 81:3-5 NEB

 

God scolds his own people for not knowing his times, while they claim to have God’s law:

 

The Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD. How do ye say, “We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us?” Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. Jeremiah 8:7, 8

 

The word for "appointed times" in verse 7 is mo’ed, the same word used for God's Holy Days in Leviticus 23:2.

 

A "dumb" stork knows its time to migrate, the time to bear its young, yet some of God's own people don't know his judgments and his times. Perhaps this is the case because they are observing wrong days, times, months, and years, as in Galatians 4:8-11.

 

 


Re-learning the Basics

 

We must learn how to read God’s Sacred calendar, if we are to observe the holy appointments he has set.

 

The Sacred calendar is actually quite simple, but because of our education away from the natural phenomena of the sun and moon, the true calendar may seem difficult to us at first.

 

The new moons and equinoxes are the natural calendar made by the Creator. While the little horn “thinks to change times and laws,” the divine calendar cannot be tampered with by man. It is always there. The new moon starts the month and the sun starts the year by appearing to move from solstice to solstice, passing through the equinoxes—very simple.

 

 

Which Calendar?

 

While the Bible’s Holy Days are central to true worship, determining when to observe them creates an unending controversy—one that has been ongoing for 2,000 years. Can we trust the Jewish calendar as many do to tell us the correct dates for feast-keeping? Is it the calendar God commanded?

 

Every believer should understand not only the role of the seven annual Feast days in keeping us constantly in the understanding of God’s plan of redemption, but their prophetic treasure in last day events and particularly the events associated with the second coming of Christ. It is, therefore, important to know the proper times these days occur.

 

            Our present Gregorian worldly calendar with 12 months of 30 or 31 days each is not the calendar of the Bible. The Gregorian calendar, adopted by all Catholic countries in 1582 and in 1752 by England and the colonies, is a sun-based calendar. It pays no attention to the new moons as marking the beginning of the months, even though the word month is based on the word moon (from Old Saxon manoth, meaning of the moon). Yet they completely ignore the moon’s phases. Some “moonths” in our Gregorian calendar have two moons!

 

            Neither can we use the Mayan calendar, the Babylonian calendar, the Egyptian Calendar, the Chinese Calendar, or any other calendar to determine God’s holy times. We must ascertain which calendar is the true Biblical Calendar.

 

 

The Jewish Calendar

 

Many are firmly convinced that we should be guided by the present calculated Jewish calendar and the feast dates as given there. This calendar has been used for hundreds of years and is widely available.

 

Some have gone so far as to make the erroneous claim that the present Hebrew or Jewish calendar was the one used at the time of the Messiah, or even contend that the Hebrew (Jewish) calendar was given to Moses at Sinai, but the Jews themselves openly admit that this is in error.

 

 

Which Jewish Calendar?

 

The most commonly used Jewish calendar is the result of changes over many centuries. The Jewish Encyclopedia explains the development of the Jewish calendar in this manner:

The Jewish calendar may be divided up into three periods—the Biblical, the Talmudic, and the post-Talmudic. The first rested purely on the observation of the sun and moon, the second on observation and reckoning, and the third entirely on reckoning.

 

 In ancient Israel the calendar was determined by visual sightings only; later, it was determined by both calculation and visual sightings. Since the time of Hillel, it has been determined by calculation only.

 

James Hastings says in his Dictionary of the Bible:

 

By the Middle of the 2nd century [CE] the calculated calendar was on the way to acceptance (Sanhed. 12a), but it was not fully adopted till the 4th cent. Under Hillel II. In the intervening period the proclamation of new moon and of the intercalary months was still dependent on the evidence of eye-witness as to the reappearance of the moon on the one hand, and the relation of the lunar months to the solar seasons on the other. But astronomical calculation was certainly utilized as well… vol. Iv under Time, p. 764

 

Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics states on page 123 that the change from the 8 year cycle to the Babylonian 19 year cycle took place between 222 and 276 CE.

 

It was not until 359 CE that Hillel II set up a standardized form of the Jewish Calendar. He specified that the leap year with its 13th month should be the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of a 19-year cycle, to adjust the lunar year to the right seasons. This cycle was named the Metonic cycle after the Greek mathematician Meton, who devised the calculations. It uses a 19 year cycle because every 19 years the new moon and the full moon fall on the same days of the solar year.

           

However, the Jewish calendar does not follow the observable cycles of the moon. Whereas a natural lunar calendar will allow all the festivals (except the 7th day Sabbath, and, according to one method of reckoning, Pentecost) to fall on any day of the week, the Hillel calendar is arranged so that the festivals never fall on certain days of the week. These arbitrary, man-made postponement rules, called dehioth, are as follows:

 

A. PESACH (Passover) can never fall on Monday, Wednesday or Friday: and it must coincide with the day of the 9th of Av of that year.

B. SHAVUOT (Pentecost) can never fall on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday and it must coincide with the second day of Passover...

C. ROSH HASHANAH (Feast of Trumpets) can never fall on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, and must coincide with the third day of Passover ...

D. YOM HAKIPPURIM (Wave Sheaf/Firstfruits) can never fall on Sunday, Tuesday or Friday, and must coincide with the fifth day of Passover.

E. PURIM (Feast of Esther) can never fall on the Sabbath (Saturday), Monday, or Wednesday and must coincide with the sixth day of Passover.

 

Days of the week on which Holy Days cannot occur, or "Forbidden Days"

                                               

Days of the Week

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

SAB

PASSOVER

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

TRUMPETS

X

 

 

X

 

X

 

ATONEMENT

X

 

X

 

 

X

 

TABERNACLES

X

 

X

 

 

X

 

   

 

            A Jewish book on the calendar makes the following confession:

 

In more than 60% of all years, Rosh HaShanah [Trumpets] does not occur on the day of the molad [conjunction of the moon], but is postponed according to one of the Dehioth [postponement] rules.” Arthur Spier, The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar, page 15

 

The Mishnah (“Teaching”) contains Jewish oral law, decisions and traditions from the first Century BCE to the third Century CE, and is the basis of the Gemara (“Interpretation”). According to the Mishnah, a Holy Day could occur on any day of the month:

 

On a Festival-day next to the Sabbath, whether before it or after it, a man may prepare two Erubs… (Dansby’s translation, p. 125, #6)

 

On p. 146 #10 we learn that the 16th Abib may fall on a Sabbath. Page 509 #7 shows that the Day of Atonement could fall on a Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath. This is in direct opposition to the modern Jewish calendar which has postponements designed to forestall Atonement’s being either before or after the weekly Sabbath. This demonstrates that the old calendar is not in harmony with the present-day Jewish calendar.

 

While the natural, Biblical calendar months vary between 29 and 30 days, all the months between “Nisan” and “Tishri” in the Jewish calendar have prescribed lengths, just as the Roman Calendar—they are predetermined 29 and 30 day months, the same each year.

 

When the Jews returned from Babylon, they adopted the Chaldean names for the months, which were named after the Babylonian gods, in the same manner that our months and weekdays are named for Roman and Teutonic gods. They retain these pagan names to this day. Some of these names are mentioned in captivity or post-captivity books, such as Nehemiah, Ezra, Esther and Daniel. For example, we are told that Nisan is another name for the first month and Adar is the twelfth month (Esther 3:7). Yet God names only four months—the others are simply numbered. We therefore reject the present designation of Nisan for Abib and the other pagan names, such as Tammuz!

 

Those that are given names are Abib, the first month (Exodus 12:2, 13:4, Deuteronomy 16:1), a time in the spring when barley and flax have headed out, but before wheat has grown up (Exodus 9:31, 32). Zif, the second month, a time for construction to begin (I Kings 6:37). Ethanim, the seventh month, time of the Feast of Tabernacles, (I Kings 8:2, 65, 66), and Bul, the eighth month, a time for construction work to cease before winter rains (I Kings 6:38).

 

            Something else that occured in the adoption of the Metonic cycle in calculating the calendar that would never have occurred in Temple times was when the 17th year of the 19-year Metonic cycle came around, Passover was two days before the vernal equinox! This 17th-year Passover occurs the earliest of all years, and it stayed ahead of the equinox for the next 400 years. Reckoning the vernal equinox as the beginning of the year, it would be possible to have two Passovers within one year if Passover were kept before the equinox!

 

            While the Jewish calendar no longer allows Passover to occur before the vernal equinox, since the basic error in the cycle is only longer than the solar year by six minutes, thirty-nine seconds. Thus, the entire calendar moves ahead of solar time one day in about 216 years. Since this steady creeping ahead of the solar calendar, the 17th year in the cycle no longer has Passover before the equinox; however, eventually Passover will be held more toward summer than spring!

 

This aberration is corroborated in the Jewish Encyclopedia:

 

That there is a slight error in the Jewish calendar—due to the inaccuracies in the length of both the lunar and solar years upon which it is based—has been asserted by a number of writers. According to Isadore Loeb the Jewish cycle in 19 years exceeds the Gregorian by 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 15.3 seconds. This makes a difference in a hundred cycles (1900 years) of 8 days, 21 hours, 45 minutes, and 5 seconds. Article: Calendar, p. 500

 

It notes on the same page,

 

Insignificant as these differences may appear, they will cause a considerable divergence in the relations between Nisan, and spring as time goes on, and may require a Pan-Judaic Synod to adjust.

 

If the present Jewish calendar were indeed the calendar God gave, there would be no reason to adjust or change anything, for he makes everything perfect. Therefore, the present Hillel II Jewish calendar, while it is a masterpiece of mathematics, cannot be relied upon to determine the correct feast dates.

 

Jewish leaders expect later to return to “a system based on true values more akin to the earlier Jewish calendar in which the new moons ... and intercalations were proclaimed on the basis of both observation and calculation." (Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 5, Article: Calendar, p 47)

 

The Karaite Jews are those who have returned to Scripture alone for their doctrine and deny any validity to the Talmud or Rabbinic teaching:

 

Karaites. . . . The accepted meaning of the name of the sect — Kara'im, Ba'alei ha-Mikra (‘people of the Scriptures’)—is assumed to imply the main characteristic of the sect, the recognition of the Scriptures as the sole and direct source of religious law, to the exclusion of the Oral law.”  Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1971 edition, Volume 10, page 762

 

Thus, they disallow the Hillel calendar, and allow the festivals to fall on any day of the week.

 

 

The Sun & Moon Establish the Calendar

 

            It is clear that the two “great lights” which “rule” day and night are the sun and moon. David expressed it rather clearly:

 

            "To him that made great lights, ... The sun to rule by day; ... The moon and stars to rule by night; ..." (Ps. 136:7-9)

 

These “great lights” were created:

1.                  To divide day from night;

2.                  For “signs,” and

3.   To establish seasons, days, and years.

 

The sun establishes the day, both the 12 hour day and the 24 hour day (John 11:9; Genesis 1:23; Psalm 119:19-23).

 

The moon establishes the month, beginning with the new moon. The same Hebrew word (chodesh, Strong's #2320) is translated both moon an month in the King James Version, depending on how it is used in the sentence (“new moon” 20 times, and “month” 220 times).

 

But what determines the year?

 

As noted above, Scriptures tell us that sun and moon establish the year; not the sun only, but both of the great lights (Gen.1:14).

 

This month [chodesh, moon] shall be to you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month [or moon] of the year to you. Exodus 12:2

 

This was stated with reference to the feast dates in the first month (Passover, Unleavened Bread).

 


Seasons

 

We noted in Genesis 1:14 that the sun and moon are “for seasons," as well as for days and years. The common understanding is that “seasons” refers to the four seasons of our year: spring, summer, fall and winter; but this is not the case.

 

“Seasons” is from the Hebrew word mo’ed which, as used here, indicates festivals. Of the thirteen times mo’ed is (in the KJV) translated "seasons," all allude to the festivals except three or four. In addition, mo’ed is translated in the following ways (KJV), showing this word very often refers to the festivals:

 

Feast, 6 times
Set feast, 5 times
Solemn feasts, 9 times
Solemnity, 4 times
Solemn day, 1 time
Solemn assembly, 1 time
Time appointed, 9 times
Time, 4 times
Appointed times, 2 times
Assembly, 2 times
Place of assembly, 1 time
Congregation, 149 times (often in connection with the tabernacle, the place of worship)

 

From the very beginning, even before man was created, God planned ahead for the observance of the annual festivals. Various translations of Genesis 1:14 read as follows:

 

…Let there be lights in the vault of heaven to separate day from night, and let them serve as signs both for festivals and for seasons and years. (NEB)

 

…Let there be lights in the vault of heaven to divide day from night, and let them indicate festivals, days and years. (Jerusalem Bible)

 

Thus, the sun and the moon set the dates for the annual festivals, as well as establishing days, months, and years

 

 

The Day

 

Scriptures calls daylight hours the day, as opposed to night (darkness):

 

                        Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in a day? John 11:9

 

Until the 18th century an hour was reckoned (among both Jews and Gentiles) as one-twelfth of the time from sunrise to sunset. The hour varied in length with the seasons, being longer in summer and shorter in winter. (Universal Standard Encyclopaedia, Standard Reference Works Pub. Co., Inc, Vol. 12, Article: Hour, p 4424; The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Eerdman's Publishing Co., Vol 2.  Article: Day, p 797) Of course, these variations may be due to the changes after the flood—we do not know.

 

There is also the full 24 hour day—the calendar day—which includes both night and day:

 

And there was evening and there was morning, one day" Genesis 1:5, etc

 

…on the day that I struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt I hallowed to myself all the first-born in Israel… Numbers 3:13

 

Since the first-born of Egypt were struck down about midnight (Exodus 12:29), it is clearly evident that the word day sometimes refers to the 24 hour day,  a calendar day.

 

Unlike our Roman Calendar day which begins at midnight, the Scriptural calendar day begins at sunset:

 

                        And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Genesis 1:23

 

            On the Sabbath day [Christ] entered the synagogue, and taught. ... and at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils" Mark 1:21,32 (Due to the Pharisees, the common people waited until the Sabbath ended (at sunset) to come to Jesus for healing.)

 

The soul that touches any [uncleanness] shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he bathe his flesh in water. And when the sun is down, he shall be clean; ... Leviticus 22:6,7

 

Christian churches in Europe and early America continued for many centuries to observe the rest day and the festivals from sunset the preceding evening (even while observing the first day of the week). This custom was gradually abandoned and ceased totally by 1800, except by those who kept the seventh day. However, a reminder of this is still with us in such phrases as, "Christmas eve," and "New Year's eve;" the "eve" beginning at sunset the preceding day. (The Lord’s Day On a Round Earth, Robert Leo Odom, Southern Pub. Co.; pp 25 – 57; American History As Told by Contemporaries,  MacMillan Co., London; Vol. 1, p 338; The Calendar God Gave to Moses, Herbert Solinsky & Rob Anderson, p 32)

 

 

The Week

 

God himself established the week by working six days and resting on the seventh (Genesis 1:1-2:4, Exodus 20:8-11; 31:17). Reference works tell us:

 

The week is a period of seven days, having no reference whatever to the celestial motions, a circumstance to which it owes it's unalterable uniformity. Although it did not enter into the calendar of the Greeks, and was not introduced at Rome till after the rule of Theodosius, it has been employed from time immemorial in almost all eastern countries; and as it forms neither aliquot part of the year nor of the lunar month, those who reject the Mosaic recital will be at a loss, ... to assign to it an origin having much semblance of probability. Encyclopaedia Brit. 9th Edition, Vol 4; Calendar, p 589

 

            The days of the week do not have names in Hebrew, but are simply numbered and referred to as follows:

 

Yom Rishon (first day)

Sundown Saturday till sundown Sunday

 

Yom Sheni (second day)

Sundown Sunday till sundown Monday

 

Yom Sh'lishi (third day)

Sundown Monday till sundown Tuesday

 

Yom Revi'I (fourth day)

Sundown Tuesday till sundown Wednesday

 

Yom Chamishi (fifth day)

Sundown Wednesday till sundown Thursday

 

Yom Shishi (sixth day)

Sundown Thursday till sundown Friday

 

            Shabbat (Sabbath/rest)

            Sundown Friday till sundown Saturday

 

 

The Month

 

The Scriptural Calendar calls for the month to begin with the new moon.

 

Before the flood, there were 12 months with 30 days each Genesis 7:11, 24 states that the windows of heaven were opened on the 17th day of the second month, and that the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days; Genesis 8:3, 4 tells us that “at the end of 150 days the waters had abated; and in the seventh month, on the 17th day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.” Five months of 30 days each equal 150 days.

 

Further indication that the original months all had 30 uniform days is seen in time prophecy. The time period given in Revelation 12:6 and 11:3—1,260 days (called “a time, times, and half a time” in Revelation 12:14, which is understood as “three and a half years) is described as “42 months” in Revelation 11:2.

 

However, the lunar month now averages 29.5305883 days; or 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.8 seconds, but it can vary in length as much as 13 hours. (Ibid, p 593; The Calendar God Gave to Moses, Solinsky & Anderson; p 8) Thus, in our present dispensation, each month consists of 29 or 30 days.

 

 

The Workings of the Sanhedrin

 

Looking for the visible crescent is not referenced in the Bible for a new moon. It was not until the return from Babylon, where the visible crescent was used to determine the beginning of the month, that we have record of this method of calculating the first day of the month. It is evident that, in adopting the heathen deity names for the months while in Babylon, Israel was greatly influenced by the Babylonian calendar system.

 

            In post-Babylonian captivity, the calendar was proclaimed by in Israel by the Sanhedrin. History books and the Talmud (not the Bible) tell us that the Sanhedrin (the Supreme court of Israel) determined the new moon by actually observing the first faint crescent [young moon] in the western sky after sunset.

 

Watchers were stationed on various vantage points, and runners carried this news to chosen members of the Sanhedrin, located in Jerusalem. Once the evidence was weighed and accepted as true, a new month was proclaimed to all the communities of Israel, both local and distant. (The New Bible Dictionary, by J.D. Douglas; Eerdman's Pub. Co., Grand Rapids, MI; 1979, Article: Calendar, p 178; Our People – History of the Jews, by Jacob Isaacs; Pub. by Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Inc., 773 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY, 11213; 3rd Edition, 1974; Vol. 4, Book 7; pp 107, 173; The Temple - Its Ministry & Service, by Alfred Edersheim; Eerdman's Pub. Co.; 1972,  p 200 – 204)

 

When skies are clear and the new moon did not appear by dusk following the 29th day of any given month, it was always visible the next night, making a month of 30 days; yet if skies were overcast during this time, visibility was assumed (thus annulling the supposed rule that the crescent must be “visible”).

 

This was th