Their drifting, 365-day calendar, still in use today, consists of twelve 30-day
months withfive epagomenal days inserted at the end of the eighth month.^55
This is identical with the late Sasanian, Persian Zoroastrian calendar (see
above, near n. 42) and in direct continuity with it, as in fact their months
are exactly conterminous.^56 But although this calendar could have been bor-
rowed from the Zoroastrians at any time in the early Middle Ages, some
peculiarities of the Mandaean calendar suggest much earlier origins that would
predate the Middle Ages, the Sasanians, and even Mandaism itself, as I shall
now explain.
The twelve months of the Mandaean year are grouped into four seasons and
named with reference to them, thefirst month of the year being calledawwal
sitwa,‘first winter’, followed by the months of‘middle winter’and‘last winter’,
then the months of the spring, etc. As in the Egyptian calendar, these seasonal
names are only nominal since the calendar drifts behind the seasons. But the
designation of thefirst month as‘early winter’is incongruous with the Persian
Zoroastrian tradition of associating the New Year, as we have seen, with the
spring. Another peculiarity arises from the additional use, in the Mandaean
calendar, of Babylonian (Aramaic) month-names. These names are arranged
in such a way that the month of Nisan corresponds to the third month of the
year (i.e.‘last winter’), exactly as in the Sogdian calendar, but incongruously,
since Nisan is thefirst month of the Babylonian year.^57 Given the considerable
distance between Sogdiana and the Mandaean settlements in southern Iraq
and Khuzistan, it seems completely unlikely that the Mandaeans borrowed
this arrangement of Babylonian month-names from the Sogdians (or vice
versa, Sogdians from Mandaeans), and indeed, there would have been no
(^55) Drower (1962) 83–5, accurately reporting that in 1935, the New Year occurred on 8 August.
This date is consistent with present-day New Year dates (e.g. 20 July 2010 http://www.nd.edu/
~ssaddawi/M%20Calendar/Mandaean%20Calendar.pps, accessed 1 June 2010), as well as with
the late Sasanian, Persian Zoroastrian calendar. Earlier reports of Mandaean New Year dates are
inconsistent and problematic (see references in Lupieri 2002: 19). Thus the 1875 date of 20
August should be corrected to 22 August. The 1854 dates of 23 February, 28 May, 26 August, and
24 November for the beginning of the four seasons are internally inconsistent, and should be
corrected to 23 February, 29 May, 27 August, and 25 November. The 1678 New Year date of 1
October should be either 8 October (Gregorian) or 28 September (Julian) depending on which
calendar the reporter used. The 1665 New Year of 14 October should be either 11 October
(Gregorian) or 1 October (Julian). These errors might be the fault of the reporters, but it is
equally possible that at various times Mandaean communities committed errors in the count
of days (on the potential for error in this type of calendar, see Ch. 3, near n. 122). 56
Assuming Drower’s and present-day dates (see previous n.). The Mandaean calendar
shares other similarities with the Zoroastrian calendar, e.g. the celebration of a‘Little New
Year’on the 6th of thefirst month (except that for the Zoroastrians, this date is the‘Great New
Year’); see above, n. 42.
(^57) Drower loc. cit. The months are also named by the signs of the Zodiac, with Nisan equated
to Aries, etc. This equivalence follows ancient and medieval standard convention, but has the
effect, in the context of the Mandaean calendar, of identifying Nisan = Aries with the last month
of winter, which is also in itself incongruous.
TheRise of the Fixed Calendars 183