Of all the months of the year, February stands out clearly. It has both its own peculiarity and a history associated with it. The remaining months contain 30-31 days, while February – for some reason – 28, and only in a leap year – 29. But why did it happen, and what is the reason for the uniqueness of the winter month, which defiantly differs from its counterparts?
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February appeared on the calendar as the latest of all months, and for a long time no one could decide how many days it had exactly. In ancient Rome, the year originally generally began on March 1 and was divided into 10 months, and lasted 304 days. And only around 690 BC. King Numa Pompilius introduced new months – January and February. The last winter month was named after the god of the underworld, Februus. And his name comes from the Latin februare, which literally means “to cleanse.” February closed the calendar year, but only 28 days remained.
The next significant reform of the calendar took place in 46 BC. and was associated with Julius Caesar. The system he created became known as the Julian calendar. It is based on the tropical year, which lasts 365.2422 days (365 days 5 hours 49 minutes). It is clear that the calendar cannot contain tenths and hundredths of a day, so a four-year cycle was invented – three years have 365 days, and the fourth – 366. Thus, the average length of the year is 365.25 days, which is very close to the calculated tropical year.
It was in order to even out the six-hour shift that a year was introduced in which February has 29 days (a leap year). Three years were counted as 365 days, and in each year, a multiple of four, one additional day was added in February.
Julian calendar
Thanks to Julius Caesar, order was introduced in the number of days in the remaining months. In odd numbers – 31 days, and in even – 30. In February, there should have been 29 days, while in a leap year – 30 days. The new calendar began to operate on January 1, 45 BC. Only a year later, the great ruler was killed, and the system he created immediately began to fail – the Roman priests began to consider leap years not every fourth, but every third year.
The difference between the duration of the average tropical year and the average Julian calendar year (365.25 days) is about 11 minutes, of which 128 years add up to one day.
It was not until the reign of Emperor Augustus that the situation was corrected. The Roman Senate, in gratitude for the deeds of state, including the calendar, decided to rename the month sextilis to Augustus. But in this even month, according to the previously introduced system, there were 30 days. The Romans believed that even numbers were unlucky. So it was decided to add an extra 1 day to August, taking it from the already inferior February. The alternation system also shifted – in September and November – by 30 days, and in October and December – by 31. In February, it became 28 days in ordinary years, and one more day is added to leap years – February 29.
Gregorian calendar
Another reform of the calendar was carried out by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Its goal was to improve the correspondence of the average calendar year to the solar one – it was decided to change the rule for calculating leap years. As before, as in the Julian calendar, the year in the Gregorian calendar remained a leap year, the number of which is a multiple of four, but an exception was made for those that were a multiple of 100. Such years were considered leap years only when they were also divided by 400. by two zeros, in three cases out of four they are not leap years. So, the years 1700, 1800 and 1900 are not leap years, since they are a multiple of 100 and not a multiple of 400. The years 1600, 2000, and 2400 are leap years, since they are a multiple of 400. The years 2100, 2200, and 2300 are non-leap years.
The distribution of leap years in the Gregorian calendar (used by all countries in modern times):
- years whose numbers are a multiple of 400 are leap years (1200, 1600, 2000, 2400);
- the rest of the years, the number of which is a multiple of 100, are non-leap years (for example, the years 1500, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300, 2500);
- all other years divisible by 4 are leap years.
As a result, the Gregorian calendar is more accurate than the Julian. An extra accumulating day is removed on average once every 133.3 years (400/3).
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