new year

The first day of the seventh month [[➝ months]] (Tishri). It was celebrated like a Sabbath with rest and sacrifice (Lev. 23:23–5; Num. 29:1–6) and blowing of trumpets. There is evidence that the New Year might have been celebrated, alternatively or additionally, on the first day of the month Nisan (Exod. 12:2), which was the custom among the Babylonians, where the annual ritual celebrated the renewal of the monarchy for the coming year. Thus there were probably two calendars in the OT, one beginning in the spring, one in the autumn. The New Year of Tishri assumes an autumnal start, but in the spring reckoning that is the seventh month.