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February, the last month of the year was shorter because the year isn’t long enough to give it 30 days Originally February had 30 days, along with all the othe
by cperciva 4y ago
February, the last month of the year was shorter because the year isn’t long enough to give it 30 days
Originally February had 30 days, along with all the other months. (The 5 or 6 remaining days at various times were either extra days which didn't belong to a month or were omitted until there was a month's worth of them to catch up on.)
February got shorter because (being the last month of the year) it had days removed in order to add them to other months -- what was originally February 30th (the end of the year) became February 23rd (the end of the year, after which the leap day is inserted).
- JoeAltmaier 4y agoAugustus and Julius stole a day from February so theirs' would be long ones.
- jcranmer 4y agoFebruary had 28 days before Julius Caesar came to power, so he and his successor couldn't have stolen a day from it.
- JoeAltmaier 4y agoWait. The calendar was 10 months before Julius. Not sure there was even a February?
- jcranmer 4y agoNo, the calendar had 12 months + 1 intercalary month before the Julian reforms. The calendar you're thinking of was the one supposedly introduced by Romulus and replaced by his successor--there's no evidence of its actual use.
- miniwark 4y agoThe Ethiopian calendar still do this, 12 months of 30 days each and a last 5 to 6 "month". The reddit thread is funny but it also forget than there is not only one calendar in the actual world... Long time ago, i have meet an indian who was never able to explain to me witch days he was forbidden to eat meat (he was not a strict vegetarian), or even food at all. It was probably a mix of one of the indian calendars, horoscope and religion.
- cperciva 4y agoMy understanding is that the Ethiopian calendar is basically the ancient Egyptian calendar aside from some names changing.