Rana da wata a kalanda

Isra’ila sun ƙirga watanninsu da wata. Wata yakan fara da sabon wata, sa’ad da aka fara ganin siririn jinjirin wata da magariba, yakan kuma ɗauki kwana 29 ko 30; kalmar Ibrananci chodesh tana nufin “sabon wata” da kuma “wata”. Manyan bukukuwa sun faɗi a lokacin da wata ya cika a tsakiyar wata: Bikin Ƙetarewa a rana ta goma sha huɗu ga wata na farko, Bikin Burodi Marar Yisti kuma a rana ta goma sha biyar (Firistoci 23:5–6). Wata zabura ta ce “Ku busa ƙahon rago a Sabon Wata, da kuma sa’ad da wata ya kai tsakiya, a ranar Bikinmu” (Zabura 81:3).

Watanni goma sha biyu sun kai kimanin kwana 354 kawai, kusan kwana 11 ƙasa da shekarar rana, saboda haka sai a ƙara wata ɗaya lokaci zuwa lokaci — a al’adar Yahudawa ta baya, Adar na biyu, sau bakwai cikin shekara goma sha tara. Takardun papyrus daga Elephantine a Masar sun nuna cewa Yahudawan da suke can sun yi amfani da irin wannan zagaye a shekarun 400 K.H. Sunayen watanni mafi tsufa, kamar Abib, watan nunar hatsi (Fitowa 13:4), suna bin shekarar noma; bayan zaman bauta, sunayen Babilon kamar Nisan suka shigo. Bisa ga al’ada ta baya a cikin Mishnah, alamun wuta daga Dutsen Zaitun ne suke sanar da sabon jinjirin wata.