This year’s Rosh Hashanah marks the start of year 5783 in the Hebrew calendar. “Rosh Hashanah” means “head of the year” in Hebrew and marks the beginning of the civil year – a time for looking forward to a new year with anticipation and reflecting on the past year to improve for the upcoming year.

According to National Geographic, the earliest mention of Rosh Hashanah by name is found in the Mishnah, a Jewish legal text dated to 200 C.E. It is observed on the first and second days of the Jewish month of Tishrei, which is the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar.

Rosh Hashanah kicks off the High Holy Days, also known as the Ten Days of Penitence and ends with Yom Kippur, which is considered the most sacred of Jewish religious holidays.

Rosh Hashanah’s traditions include:

• Taschlich: Casting off one’s sins by throwing morsels of breads into a body of running water
• The blowing of the Shofar’s horn, a ram’s horn, as a call to repentance
• Festive meals that include symbolic foods such as honey dipped apples
• Reciting special liturgy
• Attending synagogue

There are 14.8 million Jewish people around the world. The Jewish calendar begins on the date Jewish religious scholars state is the creation of the earth and its year reflects its age.

According to the Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law, the world was created on the first day of Tishrei, which usually line up with September or October in the Gregorian (or Christian) calendar.

The Hebrew calendar starts in the springtime in the Hebrew month of Nissan that begins in either March or April, which is in contrast to the Gregorian calendar which begins on January 1 in winter. The Jewish calendar is based on a lunar calendar system and has 354 days but adds an additional month seven times in 19 years to keep in sync with the solar year. The Gregorian calendar is based on a solar calendar, keeping holidays in prescribed seasons.