Today is the Islamic New Year. Happy New Year to the faithful!

History tells us that it was in the year 622 AD, the Prophet Muhammad chose to follow the lunar year calendar versus the solar year calendar. BTW: the lunar calendar is used across the world including the Chinese calendar, Islamic Calendar, Native American, pre-historic English, Pagan, Celtic, and Indigenous Australians amongst many others. What varies is which lunar cycle is chosen to start the new year.

So, what’s the difference between the lunar year and solar year?

The lunar year follows twelve cycles of the Earth’s Moon orbit which collectively is 354 days total or eleven to twelve days shorter than the annual solar orbit of 365 days a year. Actually, the solar year is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds which is why we have a leap day added every four years.

But wait a minute, doesn’t the Sun orbit the Milky Way galaxy? Yes, it does. The galactic year, also known as a cosmic year, is the duration of time required for the Sun to orbit once around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. One galactic year is 230 million Earth years.

Here is today’s haiku: What Year(s) Do You Follow?

Calendars focus

on the time most important

to you and your view

Note: some people follow all three calendars: lunar, solar and cosmic.

For more information see: https://nationaltoday.com/islamic-new-year/, https://humanoriginproject.com/the-lunar-calendar-and-how-moon-phases-work/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_year