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Biblically speaking the Holiday of Rosh Hashanah is just one day: the first day of the seventh month (Tishrei). However, biblically speaking the first day of the month is to be determined by the Rabbinical court in Jerusalem (not by the calendar).
In ideal times, when the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the day when the new month started was determined by witnesses who saw the new moon. A month in the Jewish (lunar) calendar contains 29 or 30 days1. If witnesses arrived on the 30th day of the month and testified that they had seen the new moon, then that day became the 1st day of the next month and the previous month ended up with only 29 days. If no witnesses arrived on that day, then automatically the previous month had 30 days and the next month would start on the 31st day.
Rosh Hashanah is observed two days even in the Land of Israel - as opposed to all other holidays which are only one day in Israel
So our sages instituted that we should observe two days of Rosh Hashanah -- the 30th and 31st day.2 In Temple times this could end up being either the 30th day of Elul and the 1st day of Tishrei, or the 1st and 2nd day of Tishrei (as Rosh Hashanah always is today). For this reason, Rosh Hashanah is observed two days even in the Land of Israel - as opposed to all other holidays which are only one day in Israel.3
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