Two Ramadans in 2030: Why it Will Happen and What You Need To Know
It’s possible for Ramadan to appear twice in one Gregorian calendar year due to the misalignment between the lunar Islamic calendar and the solar Gregorian calendar.
In the solar one, a new year begins after the earth makes a full rotation around the sun (12 months), and while the lunar calendar also has 12 months, each only has 29 or 30 days so the year is shorter, with 11 days lesser than the solar.
Due to the Hijri calendar’s 354-day cycle, this phenomenon recurs approximately every 33 years, which means that in six years’ times, Ramadan will occur twice in 2030.
This situation can happen when Ramadan starts at the very end of one Gregorian year and ends at the beginning of the next, effectively spanning two Gregorian calendar years.
When Exactly Will This Happen?
In 2030, we can expect to experience Ramadan both at the beginning and end of the same year. That year, Ramadan is expected to start around January 6, followed by Eid Al Fitr on February 5. Ramadan is expected to fall again on December 26. The total days of fasting that year would be 36.
The most recent instance of two Ramadans within the same Gregorian year happened in 1997. After 2030, we can anticipate the reappearance of two Ramadans in 2063.
Predicting the Hijri calendar is not simple and requires an official committee to come together and announce the commencement of a new month.
The official start date of Ramadan is typically announced when countries’ respective moon sighting committees (which are made up of religious leaders and astronomers) spot the crescent moon, which marks the beginning of the Holy Month. Nonetheless, astronomers can offer estimations regarding the expected onset of a new lunar month.
