Why is February such a short month, having only 28 or 29 days, whereas the other months have 30 or 31?

l3i7l

Basically Caesar Augustus stole a day for his month. - In the year 3961 AM, which we call 46 BC, Julius Caesar standardized the civil calendar of the Roman Empire so that it had twelve months with 30 days each. An extra 5 days were spread out among the months to keep the calendar in line with the seasons. Before then, the date depended on observations of the sun and the moon. He also introduced the concept of the leap day, which adds a day to February every four years. The month of Quintilis was renamed 'July' to honor him for this calendar reform. Later, Caesar Augustus made a minor calendar reform. Under Julius Caesar's calendar, leap day came in the middle of the month and had the same date as the day before. Caesar Augustus moved the leap day to the end of the month and gave it its own date. February was an unpopular month, because it contained an unpleasant religious observance, so he moved one day from February to the month of Sextilis, which was renamed 'August' in his honor, and now had the same number of days as Julius' month, July. Thus, February was left short. Jan 13 01, 12:08 AM

salami_swami

Here is some history of February, talking about why it has only 28 days. This supports much of what l3i7l said. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February#History Feb 27 09, 9:47 AM

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How many months have 28 days? In which European language does one of the days of the week have the same name as one of the months of the year? Why does February have "28 days clear and 29 in each leap year" while other months have 30 or 31, and as a corollary, is the year 2100 a leap year? Why are some months 31, 30 and some 29 or 28 days long and not a fixed number of days?

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