Editing Moon (section)

===Timekeeping===
{{Further|Lunar calendar |Lunisolar calendar |Metonic cycle }}
[[File:Venus-de-Laussel-detail-corne.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Venus of Laussel]] (c. 25,000 [[Before present|BP]]) holding a crescent shaped horn. The 13 notches on the horn may symbolize the average number of days from menstruation to an [[ovulation]], or the approximate number of full [[menstrual cycle]]s and [[lunar cycle]]s per year (although these two phenomena are unrelated).<ref name=":0b">{{Cite book |last=Thompson, William Irwin. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/6890108 |title=The time falling bodies take to light : mythology, sexuality, and the origins of culture |date=1981 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=0-312-80510-1 |location=New York |pages=105 |oclc=6890108 |access-date=July 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003030402/https://www.worldcat.org/title/time-falling-bodies-take-to-light-mythology-sexuality-and-the-origins-of-culture/oclc/6890108 |archive-date=October 3, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Boyle 2019">{{cite web |last=Boyle |first=Rebecca |date=July 9, 2019 |title=Ancient humans used the moon as a calendar in the sky |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moon-time-calendar-ancient-human-art |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104145754/https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moon-time-calendar-ancient-human-art |archive-date=November 4, 2021 |access-date=November 4, 2021 |website=Science News}}</ref>]]Since pre-historic times people have taken note of [[Lunar phases|the Moon's phases]] and its [[Lunar cycle|waxing and waning cycle]] and used it to keep record of time. [[Tally stick]]s, notched bones dating as far back as 20–30,000 years ago, are believed by some to mark the phases of the Moon.<ref name="Burton2011" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brooks |first1=A. S. |last2=Smith |first2=C. C. |date=1987 |title=Ishango revisited: new age determinations and cultural interpretations |journal=The African Archaeological Review |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=65–78 |doi=10.1007/BF01117083 |jstor=25130482 |s2cid=129091602}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Duncan |first=David Ewing |title=The Calendar |date=1998 |publisher=Fourth Estate Ltd. |isbn=978-1-85702-721-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/calendar5000year0000dunc_l8r5/page/10 10–11] |url=https://archive.org/details/calendar5000year0000dunc_l8r5}}</ref> The counting of the days between the Moon's phases eventually gave rise to generalized [[Unit of time|time period]]s of lunar cycles as [[month]]s, and possibly of its phases as [[week]]s.<ref name="Zerubavel 1989 p. 9">{{cite book |last=Zerubavel |first=E. |title=The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-226-98165-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cd5ZjRsNj4sC&pg=PA9 |access-date=February 25, 2022 |page=9 |archive-date=July 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725234921/https://books.google.com/books?id=Cd5ZjRsNj4sC&pg=PA9 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The words for the month in a range of different languages carry this relation between the period of the month and the Moon etymologically. The English ''month'' as well as ''moon'', and its cognates in other Indo-European languages (e.g. the [[Latin]] {{lang|la |mensis}} and [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc |μείς}} (''meis'') or {{lang |grc |μήν}} (mēn), meaning "month")<ref>{{cite book |author=Smith, William George |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology: Oarses-Zygia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PJ0YAAAAIAAJ |access-date=March 29, 2010 |volume=3 |date=1849 |publisher=J. Walton |page=768 |archive-date=November 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126140722/https://books.google.com/books?id=PJ0YAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Estienne, Henri |title=Thesaurus graecae linguae |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0qQ_AAAAcAAJ |access-date=March 29, 2010 |volume=5 |date=1846 |publisher=Didot |page=1001 |archive-date=July 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728014911/https://books.google.com/books?id=0qQ_AAAAcAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{L&S |mensis |ref}}</ref><ref>{{LSJ |mei/s |μείς |shortref}}.</ref> stem from the [[Proto-Indo-European]] (PIE) root of ''moon'', *''méh<sub>1</sub>nōt'', derived from the PIE verbal root *''meh<sub>1</sub>''-, "to measure", "indicat[ing] a functional conception of the Moon, i.e. marker of the month" ([[cf.]] the English words ''measure'' and ''menstrual'').<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World |series=Oxford Linguistics |author1-first=J.P. |author1-last=Mallory |author2-first=D.Q. |author2-last=Adams |date=2006 |pages=98, 128, 317 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-928791-8}}</ref><ref>{{OEtymD |measure |}}</ref><ref>{{OEtymD |menstrual |}}</ref> To give another example from a different [[language family]], the [[Chinese language]] uses the same word ({{lang|zh |{{linktext|月}}}}) for ''moon'' as for ''month'', which furthermore can be found in the symbols for the word ''week'' ({{lang|zh |{{linktext|星期}}}}).

This lunar timekeeping gave rise to the historically dominant, but varied, [[lunisolar calendar]]s. The 7th-century [[Islamic calendar]] is an example of a purely [[lunar calendar]], where months are traditionally determined by the visual sighting of the hilal, or earliest crescent moon, over the horizon.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Lunar Crescent Visibility Criterion and Islamic Calendar |last=Ilyas |first=Mohammad |journal=Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=35 |page=425 |date=March 1994 |bibcode=1994QJRAS..35..425I}}</ref>

Of particular significance has been the occasion of [[full moon]], highlighted and celebrated in a range of calendars and cultures, an example being the Buddhist [[Vesak]]. The full moon around the [[March equinox|southern]] or [[September equinox|northern autumnal equinox]] is often called the [[harvest moon]] and is celebrated with festivities such as the [[Harvest Moon Festival]] of the [[Chinese lunar calendar]], its second most important celebration after [[Chinese New Year|the Chinese]] lunisolar [[Lunar New Year]].<ref name="Confucius Institute for Scotland 2022">{{cite web |title=Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration |website=Confucius Institute for Scotland |date=August 30, 2022 |url=https://www.confuciusinstitute.ac.uk/events/mid-autumn-festival-activities-10-september/ |access-date=November 22, 2022 |archive-date=November 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122172612/https://www.confuciusinstitute.ac.uk/events/mid-autumn-festival-activities-10-september/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Furthermore, association of time with the Moon can also be found in religion, such as the ancient Egyptian temporal and lunar deity [[Khonsu]].