I cruised this thread out of curiosity and noticed a couple of things which were not mentioned but which might have some bearing on the issue.
A Jew writing to non-Jews might say something like, "Sabbath of the Jews" to indicate that it was kept according to the sacred lunar calendar wherein Shabat is celebrated, not on Saturday but on the new moon, and on the seventh day after new moon (first quarter), the fourteenth day after new moon (full moon), and the twenty first day after new moon (third quarter).
We call them months is because they were originally synchronized with phases of the moon.
Thus, Passover occurs on the seventh day after the first new moon of spring. Indeed, the entire week is sacred, but the really big party starts on the evening of the seventh; what we might call the evening of the sixth. Historically, the Jews have suffered a lot of grief in an attempt to honor the holy lunar timetable.
If you'd like to be
really confused, try synchronizing the lunar calendar with the solar calendar. That was one of the primary duties of ancient astronomers. That's why they were paid the
Big Bucks!
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Creationism Evolves!