Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

AliMcGraw t1_jabc0b8 wrote

Reply to comment by annomandaris in Eli5: How did people know how long a year was in olden times? by Slokkkk

Lunar months are actually about 29 1/2 days; most ancient lunar calendars that don't correct for the sun use 12 months and come out with 354 days ... which is why Ramadan moves back 11 days every year (purely lunar calendar).

Most ancient calendars do correct for the sun. :) They stick in bonus days in various ways -- whole bonus month every couple years, bonus week somewhere, etc.

4