Months, What Makeshift Names They Have

Today is a rest day according to my definition of seven days. 

I've been thinking about how to rest. 

I thought I would open the internet and read something. What should I read? 

We are in the last month of the year. December.

I wonder who named this month? Why December?

October, November, December and January were named by a law dated January 10, 1945.

The law changed "teşrinievvel" to "October", "teşrinisani" to "November", "kanunuevvel" to "December" and "kanunusani" to "January".

What strange month names there used to be. 

In history, we Turks actually used the months by numbering them. First month, second month, third month... I think it makes sense.

Although we learned an animal calendar from the Chinese for a while, but as far as I know, animal names were used for years. I read somewhere that they are also used for months, but it's probably wrong information. Because many sources talk about animal names and years, not months.

I don't know when we forgot to identify the months with numbers, but we started using the Hijri calendar and changed the names of the months. Recep, Sha'ban, Ramadan... These are actually the names of the months, and of course many people named their children after them. Even one of my grandfathers was named Recep. 

I also know the month of Muharram from the Hijri calendar.

Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar. It is based on the rotation of the moon around the earth. From full moon to full moon.  

You know Ramadan and holidays, we still celebrate these religious holidays according to the Hijri calendar. 

For some reason, we have changed the calendar we use during the day, but the religious holiday calendar has remained the same. It seems that no one dares to reform religious matters. 

You know that the Hijri calendar shifts by ten days every year. There is a difference of about ten days between the rotation of the moon around the earth and the rotation of the earth around the sun.

Some people say it's better this way, that the holidays fall at different times of the year, that it makes a difference. This is a point of view, of course, but I think that if there is a world standard, which there is, it would be useful to adapt to it.

Then we started using the Rumi calendar. This is now the solar calendar. So it is based on the rotation of the earth around the sun. 

Look, it's interesting, back then the first month of the year was March. So the Rumi calendar starts in March for some reason.

March, April, May, June, July, August, September.

And then, teşrini-evvel, teşrini-sani and kanuni-evvel, kanuni-sani.

I understand evvvel, it means before teşrini, but what is sani?

It means second. So the second teşrin? I see, the second half of December!

In that case, teşrin also means something. The etymological dictionary says it is an Aramaic/Syriac word, the seventh month of the Aramaic/Syriac calendar. For some reason it has no literal meaning. It must mean something, but anyway, it's not important.

I wonder if the law is the law as we know it, the one that means laws. I can't look deeper now. That's not important either.

By the way, we forgot to count February. February is the last month in the Rumi calendar. Seven months from March to September, then four more. February is the twelfth month.

We switched to the Gregorian calendar during the Tanzimat period. March 13, 1840 (according to the Gregorian calendar we use today) was the first day the Rumi calendar was used. Friday, March 1, 1256 in the Gregorian calendar. New Year's Day according to the Gregorian calendar! According to the Gregorian calendar, both were used together until 1870. In 1917, the Gregorian calendar was also changed to the Gregorian calendar we use today. According to the Gregorian calendar, this change was made on February 8, 1332 with Law No. 125. In fact, since both the Gregorian calendar and the Gregorian calendar are solar calendars, although there is no day shift as before, one is called Gregorian and the other Julian based, that is, the starting dates are different. Gregorian is the Gregorian calendar that is in force today.

Of course, human beings have tried very hard to get a reference for themselves in time. In ancient Egypt, for example, they divided the year into three seasons. They adjusted these divisions according to the position of the star Sirius in the sky. Akhet, Peret, Shemu. Flood, growth and harvest. The flooding of the Nile was a big problem for the Egyptians. But it was also the reason for their advances in geometry.

They say every bad thing has a silver lining. They also say that if something doesn't happen, don't worry, it's for the best. How else are you going to overcome defeat? You find a way out somehow, of course.

Let me see where these moon names come from. I'm sure they are Arabic Persian names again.

Although Ocak is Turkish, we know it as Ocak. But that was the name given in 1945. 

February is Syriac, Shabbat, rest. This name was given to Assyrians, who were an agricultural society, because it was no longer possible for them to engage in agriculture in February, so they rested at home. Interesting!

March dates back to Martius, the Roman god of war. The planet Mars has the same roots.

Nisan is Persian, Syriac, even Akkadian and Sumerian. It means first fruit. It has a nice meaning, I like it, and I also like it because I was born in April.

May, this is from the Romans, Maia, the goddess of rain. Maia's month, the month of fertility. Rain means fertility.

June means hot in Syriac. Although June is not that hot yet, but it is acceptable.

July, Tammüz is a Babylonian and Assyrian god, Dumuzi in Sumerian. God of fertility!

August is named after Caesar Augustus, the first emperor of Rome.

In fact, July is also called July in English, after Julius Caesar. In other words, Europeans named these months of the year after Roman emperors. There is even a story about August having 31 days like July. Augustus insisted that his month should be 31 days like Julius' month.

September, also a Syriac, Akkadian word, means harvest festival. It makes sense to celebrate after the summer's harvest. This is also in place, but unfortunately not in Turkish!

October was introduced in 1945, it is Turkish, it is the month when crops are planted.

Kasım, see, I don't understand this either, this is also a name that was changed in 1945, but for some reason it is of Arabic origin. It means one who divides, one who divides.

One source says it's an Anatolian habit from centuries ago. In Anatolia, they used to divide the year into two, the days of November and the days of Hızır.

May 6, the days of Hızır starting with the day of Hıdırellez and six months later the beginning of November, here is November, the month that divides the year in two! 

Still, I would have given it a Turkish name while I was at it.

December is between something, but between what? Do they mean between January and November? What a ridiculous analogy if that's what they really thought.

Yes, today we are a bit obsessed with the months. Actually, there is more to write on this subject, but enough for Sunday.

I understand that I will have to do something about the months. We have ridiculous month names, picked up here and there. I think there are some people somewhere who have thought of new names for the months based on agriculture, and I think there are even some regions in Anatolia that have their own names, but I'll have to do something about it for good and come up with names that are unique to us, and put an end to this confusion.

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow