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Why the heck does February have only 28 days
- Thread starter maflynn
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http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_does_february_have_28_days_while_the_other_months_have_30_or_31
The real question is why it bothers you so
[/rant right back at ya]
Both those months were to honor Caesar (July for Julius, August for Augustus). This threw the naming and sequence off with the new 7th & 8th months, so now you have September (7) at 9, October (8) at 10, November (9) at 11, and December (10) at 12. The number of days in a month—and the months themselves—have been getting whacked around as long as people have been making up calendars. They're all screwy.
Who do you think "they" are? Current western calendar was settled on long time ago.... then rejigged and refreshed as new emperors and popes saw fit, and astronomers tried to make sense of it. You want a real mystery? Try to work out the pattern to the timing of Easter. There is a pattern, but it's rooted in astronomical dark voodoo. Why not just pin it to a regular date like all the other religious holidays?
There is no real voodoo, Easter is based on the lunar calendar and our calendar is based on the solar calendar. There's a few other variables thrown in on Easter as Jesus was crucified on passover so that's why it follows the lunar calendar.
I always liked the idea of the 13 month calendar better it is much easier to organize the dates there would still be a leap year of course (proposed as a day with no assignment to a week day name every year and one day each 4 years) but no shifting between number dates and days of the week there would just be 28 days each month and the addition of one day every year and one every 4 keeping the calendar accurate.
Of course the superstitious would be pissed about the 13 friday the 13ths as a result if Sunday constantly fell on the beginning of the week (come to think of it guess what the date is tomorrow) however if monday were set as the standard there would never be a Friday the 13th and horror flick fans would be displeased.
Or there is the Asimov idea of having a seasonal calendar with four divisions each equaling 91 days, throwing out the monthly lunar sytem completely and sticking with a solar model. Still there would need to be those necessary leap days used to keep the calendars accuracy intact left unassigned to any week days with the same standard as the 13 month calendar.
Of course the superstitious would be pissed about the 13 friday the 13ths as a result if Sunday constantly fell on the beginning of the week (come to think of it guess what the date is tomorrow) however if monday were set as the standard there would never be a Friday the 13th and horror flick fans would be displeased.
Or there is the Asimov idea of having a seasonal calendar with four divisions each equaling 91 days, throwing out the monthly lunar sytem completely and sticking with a solar model. Still there would need to be those necessary leap days used to keep the calendars accuracy intact left unassigned to any week days with the same standard as the 13 month calendar.
I thought Jan and Feb were the newest months added to the calendar later, while July and August already existed and were simply renamed in honour of Caesar and Augustus, with an extra day tacked on at the ends. The year began in March, and Julius Caesar got a month in the middle of the year. Then Augustus wanted a month with 31 days, and since he thought he was better than Caesar, he got the month after July (August) and also wanted 31 days. Sept, Oct, Nov, and Dec were months 7, 8, 9, and 10, like you said. There were days that did not belong to a month, but they weren't important because nothing was planned in the dead of winter anyway (January and Feb). Eventually January and February were created just to fill the gaps.
Passover is what is based on the lunar calendar and is still a strictly observed Jewish holiday, Easter on the other hand does not coincide with passover it's celebration is observed by the Modern calendar rarely coinciding with the Hebrew one. Jesus' death is always celebrated on a Friday through Sunday traditionally under the modern calendar in Christian practices while pasàch falls within a specific week on a different lunar calendar which can begin whatever day of the week it happens to be during the months of March and April (a very wide range--Ive known the holiday to happen as early as the beginning of March or as late as the middle of April). Indeed Easter does vary as well but it always begins falling on a Friday within a narrower date range (+/- up to a week between March and April) to coincide with the current calendar system and insure that the holiday is observed beginning on a Friday.
I'm neither Christian nor Jewish I used to celebrate Easter by making deviled eggs with my family after the hunt so I am familiar with that holiday since child hood since my mother was a Baptist and insistent on us going to church in the morning then looking for brightly colored hard boiled eggs all afternoon. I celebrate pasàch with my in-laws as a courtesy to their family traditions (jokingly I am referred to as the sacrificial gentile) I have to say the food is a lot better than those Jews make it out to be--I highly reccomend the Mazoball soup.
what might freak you out is that in Feb year 3448 there will be a super leap year of 2 days including Feb 30th and 31st.
Linky linky
Really?
what might freak you out is that in Feb year 3448 there will be a super leap year of 2 days including Feb 30th and 31st.
Doesn't matter, the world is ending in 2012
If true (see above) wouldn't that be 3 days? (29, 30, 31) If just two, that would be the 29th and 30th.what might freak you out is that in Feb year 3448 there will be a super leap year of 2 days including Feb 30th and 31st.
13*28=364
14*26=364
No need to piss off the superstitious. I realize that 26 is not divisible by 7, but, oh well...
Q Why the heck does February have only 28 days?
A Because it gets it's awesome done more quickly. Optionally, because it's the month that sucks the most, has the dumbest name, and therefore the guy who planned the calendar way back in The Day just wanted to breeze right through a few days faster.
A Because it gets it's awesome done more quickly. Optionally, because it's the month that sucks the most, has the dumbest name, and therefore the guy who planned the calendar way back in The Day just wanted to breeze right through a few days faster.
Looking at the Roman calendar, yeah, you're right. My bad
That one started with Martius (March), and the 5th & 6th months were Quintillis and Sextillis. Numa Pompilius added Iunarius (January) and Februarius (February) around 700 BCE. Quintillis and Sextillis were renamed Ilius (July) in 44 BCE and Augustus (August) in 4 BCE. Basically, emperors, kings, and popes just did what they wanted without real regard for much of anything but their egos (hence July & August being the only consecutive 31-day months). Add to that the confusion between lunar and solar calendars (or combinations thereof, like the Chinese calendar), and you have a chronometric train wreck.
Yah 2000 years or so ago a bunch of Italians nailed a Jew to a couple pieces of wood then later started worshipping him and it somehow turned into kids eating Cadbury eggs hidden by a bunny rabbit suspected to have a chicken fetish.....creepy indeed.
I just meant the part of about celebrating his death. The rest of it sounds like a crazy movie.
It's much less creepy when you notice that Easter is a pagan holiday that was only twisted to apply to Christ's death relatively recently.