The Peace on The Horizon - 75 Years after The World War 2 in the Middle East (117)

 

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)

 

(contents)

 

Chapter 5: Two calendars (Gregorian & Hijri)

 

117 Gregorian overcomes Hijri (3/4)

Another reason is that Japan is agricultural society and Middle East is pastoral society. In the agricultural society, it moves along with the season from sowing to harvesting. It must be aligned with the movement of the sun. In pastoral society, grass grows naturally and livestock breeds babies without human activity. Therefore, pastoralists need not to be so sensitive for the seasonal change as agricultural people.

 

There are many events related to the daily life that match to a lunar calendar. In Japan, 88th day and 210^th day which start from the beginning of February are such examples. 88^th-day around in May is the suitable day for picking green tea. And 210^th-day means a high season of typhoon in September. Both events are tailored for Summer and Autumn seasons respectively and are closely related to the seasonal natural phenomena. Ramadan, the 9^th month of Hijri, is fasting month which is typical event for Muslim. And Hajj, twelfth month of Hijri for Makkah pilgrimage is the same. Both are human acts and not related to nature and season.

 

How about economic activities which have nothing to do with the seasons? Economic activities are often settled in monthly basis like salary payment or debt repayment. It is not necessarily to adjust to a Gregorian calendar. Merchants in the Islamic world granted that one month is from full moon to next full moon. They feel no inconvenience for such business manner.

 

(To be continued ----)

 

 

Areha Kazuya

(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)