Do You Know Why Poor February Became The Least Favourite Month And Ended Up Having 28 Days?

February is the only month which has 28 days and 29 days on leap year, but why? Why this discrimination? All the other months have 30 and 31 days, then why not February. It’s not that February was a person and she committed a pitiless crime and she sentenced to have least days in her month for forever. No, that is not what happened. Then what? Ever wondered about it?

The Legend Of Caesar.

A popular legend suggests that July was named after the great emperor Julius Caesar and that is why it has 31 days but later Augustus Caesar took over the Roman Empire and became the King. Now, the month August was named after him and had only 29 days, so he wanted to have 31 days as well. Hence, 2 days were pulled out of poor February and dropped into the month of August so that it can have 31 days. February was left with only 28 days.

However, the history of the calendar is pretty tangled and some historians do not agree with the Caesar reasoning. So there is another legend.

The Legend Of King Numa Pompilius.

Some of the archivists believe that February had 28 days since the time of King Numa Pompilius. The King decided that a year would have only 355 days as it includes 12 lunar cycles. Back then the even numbers held the reputation of being unlucky. Guess the King forgot that the number is also an even number.

Anyways, So the King decided the seven months of the year will have 29 days and four months will be of 31 days. Now, he needed to have a short even numbered month and guess what? He chose February to be of only 28 days. Why? Because it was the least favourite month back then since it arrived during the middle of the winters. Hence, February ended up having only days.

So one of these legends did the inequity to February and gave it the calendar we have today.It feels like none of the King or Ruler ever wanted to make February any longer, so it remains to have 28 days till now. Of Course, every fourth year her luck brightens and she has a leap day, which is why the year is called the Leap Year.

Aww!! February. Don’t be sad, you have Valentines!!!  

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16 March, 2016
Avni S. Singh