| (list) | |
| Wide use | Astronomical · Gregorian · Islamic · ISO |
| Calendar Types | |
| Lunisolar · Solar · Lunar | |
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| Selected use | Assyrian · Armenian · Attic · Aztec (Tonalpohualli – Xiuhpohualli) · Babylonian · Bahá'í · Bengali · Berber · Bikram Samwat · Buddhist · Burmese · Celtic · Chinese · Coptic · Egyptian · Ethiopian · Calendrier Républicain · Germanic · Hebrew · Hellenic · Hindu · Indian · Iranian · Irish · Japanese · Javanese · Juche · Julian · Korean · Lithuanian · Malayalam · Maya (Tzolk'in – Haab') · Minguo · Nanakshahi · Nepal Sambat · Pawukon · Pentecontad · Rapa Nui · Roman · Rumi · Soviet · Tamil · Thai (Lunar – Solar) · Tibetan · Vietnamese· Xhosa · Zoroastrian |
| Calendar Types | |
| Runic · Mesoamerican (Long Count – Calendar round) | |
| Christian variants | |
| Julian calendar · Calendar of saints · Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar · Liturgical year | |
| Rarely used | Darian calendar · Discordian calendar |
| Display types and applications | Perpetual calendar · Wall calendar · Economic calendar |
The Armenian calendar is the traditional calendar of Armenia. It is a solar calendar based on the ancient Egyptian model, having an invariant 365-day year with no leap year rule. As a result, the correspondence between it and the Gregorian calendar slowly changes over time. Some references report that the first month of the year, Nawasardi, corresponds to the start of Spring in the northern hemisphere, but that was only true from the 9th through 12th centuries. The new Armenian year that begins in AD 2008, year 1458 of the Armenian Era, falls on July 26th at 1:52 Eastern standard.
The year consists of twelve months of 30 days each, plus five extra days (epagomenê) that belong to no month. The days of each month are generally named rather than numbered.
Years are given in the Armenian alphabet by the letters ԹՎ t’v, a siglum for t’vin "in the year" followed by one to four letters of the Armenian Alphabet, each of which stands for an Armenian numeral. For example, "in the year 1455 [AD 2006]" would be written ԹՎ ՌՆԾԵ.
The Armenian month names show influence of the Zoroastrian calendar, and, as noted by Antoine Meillet, Kartvelian influence in two cases. There are different systems for transliterating the names; the forms below come from Calendrical Calculations: The Millennium Edition by Dershowitz and Reingold.
The Armenian calendar names the days of the month instead of numbering them, a peculiarity also found in the Avestan calendars. Zoroastrian influence is evident in at least five names. The names are 1. Areg "sun", 2. Hrand, 3. Aram, 4. Margar "prophet", 5. Ahrank’ "half-burned", 6. Mazdeł, 7. Astłik "Venus", 8. Mihr (Mithra), 9. Jopaber, 10. Murç "triumph", 11. Erezhan "hermit", 12. Ani, 13. Parxar, 14. Vanat, 15. Aramazd (Ahura Mazda), 16. Mani "beginning", 17. Asak "beginningless", 18. Masis (Mount Ararat), 19. Anahit (Anahita), 20. Aragac, 21. Gorgor, 22. Kordi (a district of Ancient Armenia considered the homeland of the Kurds), 23. Cmak "east wind", 24. Lusnak "half-moon", 25. C̣rōn "dispersion", 26.Npat (Apam Napat), 27. Vahagn (Zoroastrian Vahrām, name of the 20th day), 28. Sēin "mountain", 29. Varag, 30. Gišeravar "evening star". The five epagomenal days are called Aveleac̣ "superfluous".
Prior to borrowing the Egyptian calendar, the ancient Armenians had a lunar calendar based on a lunation of 28 days.
