Nisan (or Nissan; , Standard Nīsan, Tiberian Nīsān; from Nisanu) in the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars is the month of the barley ripening and first month of spring. The name of the month is an Akkadian language borrowing, although ultimately originates in Sumerian nisag "first fruits". In the Hebrew calendar it is the first month of the ecclesiastical year, called the "first of the months of the year" (Book of Exodus 12:1-2), "first month" (Ex 12:14), and the month of Aviv (Ex 13:4) ḥōḏeš hā-’āḇîḇ). It is called Nisan in the Book of Esther in the Tanakh and later in the Talmud, which calls it the "New Year", Rosh HaShana, for kings and pilgrimages. It is a month of 30 days. Nisan begins between March 12 and April 11, and the last day is between April 10 Apr and May 10 in the Gregorian calendar. In the year 2023, 1 Nisan will occur on 23 March. Counting from 1 Tishrei, the civil new year, it would be the seventh month (eighth, in leap year), but in contemporary Jewish culture, both months are viewed as the first and seventh simultaneously, and are referred to as one or the other depending on the specific religious aspects being discussed. Name and origin The biblical Hebrew months were given enumerations instead of names. The new moon of Aviv, which in the Hebrew language means "barley ripening" literally and by extension, "spring season",(Exodus 9:31) is one of the few called both by name and by its number, the first. "Nisan" and other Akkadian names for the equivalent lunar months in the Babylonian lunisolar calendar came to be applied during the Babylonian captivity, in which the month of Aviv's name was Araḫ Nisānu, the "month of beginning". Holidays and observances 1 Nisan Lunar new year, marking the month of Aviv (spring), as the first month of the year, which month was later called Nisan. The first national mitzvah was given to the Jewish people to fix the calendar to the new moon of Aviv, according to the Book of Exodus 12:1–2, 12:18. ( BCE) 4-11 Nisan - Approximate dates of the Akitu festival of ancient Babylon, celebrating the sowing of barley in the first month of spring, Nisanu. 10 Nisan – Yom HaAliyah – Aliyah Day, Israeli national holiday 14 Nisan – Fast of the Firstborn - When the 14th falls on Sabbath, Ashkenazim observe it