The Qumran community felt that time was a very important element in their community. They thought that God had conveyed the correct structure of the heavens to them and had also given them the correct calender which showed them the correct dates for celebrations and festivals.

The community had both a solar and lunar calender that were most likely coordinated together, although we do not know how. The solar calender was composed of 364 days. There were twelve months of thirty days and every third month had thirty-one days. This calander was adapted from earlier Jewish traditions as seen in the book of Enoch. The Lunar calender has 354 days with months of twenty-nine and thirty days and was needed by the priesthood to determine their duties. Interestingly enough, all of the festivals in the Qumran community always fell on the same days of the week.

Link to active calender put out by the priesthood click HERE

New calender found at Qumran site demonstrating a link to the small liberal arts school in west central Indiana! click Here

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