Why does February only have 28 days?

February is the second month of the yr within the Gregorian calendar and the shortest, with 28 days or 29 in leap years. It is usually a month that varies drastically relying on the area of the world the place you reside; For many who are situated within the northern hemisphere, February represents the tip of winter, whereas for many who reside within the southern hemisphere, February is the tip of summer season.

On very uncommon event there was a February 30 or 31, as within the different months of the calendar. You by no means puzzled why February is only 28 days or 29 in intercalary year?

Earlier than we are able to reply this query, we should make a leap in historical past and perceive that the calendar we all know was not all the time the identical since its creation, however has undergone quite a few modifications since somebody got here up with the concept of ​​recording the passage of Cyclic time.

Why we discover it within the time of the primary Romans: within the eighth century BC, the Romans used the Romulus calendar; a ten month calendar that began the yr in March and resulted in December. January and February didn’t even exist.

On this calendar the months of 30 and 31 days have been alternated on this method:

Martius: 31 days

Aprilis: 30 days

Maius: 31 days

Iunius: 30 days

Quintilis: 31 days

Sextilis: 30 days

September: 30 days

October: 31 days

November: 30 days

December: 30 days

If we add day-after-day of the Romulus calendar, we are going to discover a quite notable drawback; the yr only lasted 304 days. It was King Numa Pompilio who determined that, to adapt the calendar to the lunar cycle, two extra months needed to be positioned, on this case, January and February.

January and February. Picture: Pixabay

Every of the brand new months had 28 and 29 days, however Numa didn't like that, as a result of even numbers have been thought of unhealthy luck again then. Subsequently, the calendar was up to date once more to alternate the months in 29 and 31 days. Since January and February have been thought of months of an “unproductive” season, it was thought that nothing occurred in the event that they each had even days.

Nevertheless, this transformation was not sufficient. Rooted in that superstitious perception, he additionally pressured himself to change the times of January. No one preferred that the yr started with a month of unhealthy luck.

Martius: 31 days

Aprilis: 29 days

Maius: 31 days

Iunius: 29 days

Quintilis: 31 days

Sextilis: 29 days

September: 29 days

October: 31 days

November: 29 days

December: 29 days

Ianuarius: 29 days

Februarius: 28 days

January previous calendar. Picture: Pixabay

It was on this method that with the passage of time they have been added and eliminated days to the calendar as a way to coincide, lastly, with the seasons.

Julio César himself made a last modification of the calendar by throwing away all of the modifications made up to now. January was positioned as the primary month, months of 30 and 31 days have been interspersed and February, as was the month of purification, was left with 28 days.