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{{Short description|Insertion of a leap day, week, or month}}
{{morerefs|date=May 2018}}
{{Wiktionary|intercalation|embolism}}

'''Intercalation''' or '''embolism''' in timekeeping is the insertion of a [[leap day]], [[Leap week calendar|week]], or month into some [[calendar year]]s to make the [[calendar]] follow the seasons or moon phases.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Intercalary |page=683}}</ref> [[Lunisolar calendar]]s may require intercalations of both days and months.

== Solar calendars ==
{{further|Intercalary month (Egypt)}}
The solar or [[tropical year]] does not have a whole number of days (it is about 365.24 days), but a [[calendar year]] must have a whole number of days. The most common way to reconcile the two is to vary the number of days in the calendar year.

In solar calendars, this is done by adding to a [[common year]] of 365 days, an extra day ("leap day" or "intercalary day") about every four years, causing a [[leap year]] to have 366 days ([[Julian calendar|Julian]], [[Gregorian calendar|Gregorian]] and [[Indian national calendar]]s).

The [[Decree of Canopus]], which was issued by the pharaoh [[Ptolemy III Euergetes]] of [[Ancient Egypt]] in 239 BCE, decreed a solar leap day system; an Egyptian leap year was not adopted until 25 BC, when the Roman Emperor [[Augustus]] successfully instituted a reformed [[Coptic calendar|Alexandrian calendar]].

In the [[Julian calendar]], as well as in the [[Gregorian calendar]], which improved upon it, intercalation is done by adding an extra day to February in each leap year. In the Julian calendar this was done every four years. In the Gregorian, years divisible by 100 but not 400 were exempted in order to improve accuracy. Thus, 2000 was a leap year; 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not.

Epagomenal<ref>From ἐπαγόμενος, ''epagomenos'' (present participle passive of ἐπάγειν, ''epagein'' "to bring in") + -al</ref> days are days within a solar calendar that are outside any regular month. Usually five epagomenal days are included within every year ([[Egyptian calendar|Egyptian]], [[Coptic calendar|Coptic]], [[Ethiopian calendar|Ethiopian]], Mayan [[Haab']] and [[French Republican Calendar]]s), but a sixth epagomenal day is intercalated every four years in some (Coptic, Ethiopian and French Republican calendars).

The [[Solar Hijri calendar]], used in Iran, is based on solar calculations and is similar to the Gregorian calendar in its structure, and hence the intercalation, with the exception that its [[epoch]] the [[Hijrah]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.alislam.org/library/history/ahmadiyya/73.html | title=Hijri-Shamsi Calendar | publisher=Al Islam | access-date=June 14, 2014}}</ref>

The [[Bahá'í calendar]] includes enough epagomenal days (usually 4 or 5) before the last month ({{lang|ar|علاء}}, ''ʿalāʾ'') to ensure that the following year starts on the [[March equinox]]. These are known as the [[Ayyám-i-Há]].

== Lunisolar calendars ==
The solar year does not have a whole number of lunar months (it is about 365/29.5 = 12.37 [[Lunar_month#Synodic_month|lunation]]s), so a lunisolar calendar must have a variable number of [[month]]s in a year. Regular years have 12 months, but embolismic years insert a 13th "intercalary" or '''"leap"''' or '''"embolismic" month''' every second or third year (see [[blue moon]]). Whether to insert an intercalary month in a given year may be determined using regular cycles such as the 19-year [[Metonic cycle]] ([[Hebrew calendar]] and in the [[Computus|determination of Easter]]) or using calculations of lunar phases ([[Hindu calendar|Hindu lunisolar]] and [[Chinese calendar]]s). The [[Buddhist calendar]] adds both an intercalary day and month on a usually regular cycle.

== Lunar calendars ==
{{more|Nasi'|Islamic calendar#Astronomical considerations}}
In principle, lunar calendars do not employ intercalation because they do not seek to synchronise with the seasons and the motion of the moon is astronomically predictable. However, religious lunar calendars rely on actual observation.

The [[Islamic calendar|Lunar Hijri calendar]], the purely lunar calendar observed by most of Islam, depends on actual observation of the first crescent of the moon and consequently does not have any intercalation. Each month still has either 29 or 30 days, but due to the variable method of observations employed, there is usually no discernible order in the sequencing of either 29 or 30-day month lengths. Traditionally, the first day of each month is the day (beginning at sunset) of the first sighting of the ''hilal'' (crescent moon) shortly after sunset. If the ''hilal'' is not observed immediately after the 29th day of a month (either because clouds block its view or because the western sky is still too bright when the moon sets), then the day that begins at that sunset is the 30th.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tabsir.net/?p=633#more-633|website=tabsir.net |title=Issues in the Islamic Calendar |first=Khalid |last=Chraibi}}</ref>

The [[tabular Islamic calendar]], used in Iran, has 12 lunar months that usually alternate between 30 and 29 days every year, but an intercalary day is added to the last month of the year 12 times within a 33-year cycle. Some historians also linked the pre-Islamic practice of [[Nasi']] to intercalation.

== Leap seconds ==
The [[International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service]] can insert or remove [[leap second]]s from the last day of any month (June and December are preferred). These are sometimes described as intercalary.<ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leap+second leap second by Merriam-Webster OnLine]</ref>

== Other uses ==
[[ISO 8601]] includes a [[ISO week date|specification]] for a 52/53-week year. Any year that has 53 Thursdays has 53 weeks; this extra week may be regarded as intercalary.

The ''xiuhpōhualli'' (year count) system of the [[Aztec calendar]] had five intercalary days after the eighteenth and final month, the ''[[nēmontēmi]]'', in which the people reflect on the past year and do fasting.

== See also ==
* [[Lunisolar calendar]]
* [[Egyptian calendar|Egyptian]], [[Coptic calendar|Coptic]], and [[Ethiopian calendar]]s
* [[Iranian calendar]]
* [[Islamic calendar]]
* [[Mandaean calendar]]
* [[Celtic calendar]]
* [[Thai lunar calendar]]
* [[Bengali calendar]]
* [[Igbo calendar]]
* [[World Calendar]]
* [[Intercalated Games]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Time Topics}}
{{Time measurement and standards}}

[[Category:Calendars]]
[[Category:Units of time]]

Intercalation (timekeeping) - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article