Feeling sorry for February!

[veggiechicken]

Dear Grapes,
Can you explain something that is puzzling me please?

Why does February have 28 days while the other months have 30 or 31?
If it had 30 days, 2 of the 31 day months could be reduced to 30 days and if those months were December and January, winter would be over sooner.

Yours sincerely,
Confused of Sunshiny South Wales

[Lumpy]

The many months were named after Roman gods, Emperor's or celebrations - so they deserved the longer months.

Names of the Months

February has to fit into the astronomical rotational rate of the Earth around the Sun which takes 365 and a quarter days. So every 4 years we get an extra day otherwise over time summer month names would happen in winter.

What I want to know is........if Sept = 7, Oct = 8, Nove = 9 and Dec = 10 why do we have them as months 9, 10, 11 and 12?

[Rocketron]

Julius and Augustus were inserted later.

[veggiechicken]

What I want to know is........if Sept = 7, Oct = 8, Nove = 9 and Dec = 10 why do we have them as months 9, 10, 11 and 12?

It was an early attempt at decimalisation of the calendar. 10 months per year and each month would have 36 or 37 days. Maybe................or maybe not

[Lumpy]

Maybe the early Church moved things around a bit so that December became the last month of the year?

[JanieB]

If you really want to know about the calendar and why it is as it is there is a book called The Calendar written by David Ewing Duncan. My OH liked listening to it on CD (narrated by Derek Jacobi) in the car. I think think he did it to ensure I slept whilst he was driving. Shame he didn't take it with us when his mother was in the car it might have shut her up. On the other hand probably wouldn't have worked.

[mothhawk]

February has only 28 days because it is the worst month of the year.

It's dark in the early morning, and still dark early in the evening.

It's cold all day and all night, without the beauty of frosts or snow.

It usually rains heavily and at length, the overcast skies making the evenings draw in even earlier.

Outside, only the snowdrops are brave enough to show a cheerful face, and the ground is too soggy to work, even if you could see to do it.

There are no festivals to cheer the days - no Christmas, Easter, solstice, equinox - an absolute dearth of occasions to celebrate - except Candlemas, and if it's crisp and sunny then, it's going to be grey and wet till Easter....

So the shorter February is, the faster we get to March - and Spring! Yippee!

[Jay-ell]

Nah, what you need is an extra month. That way each month would be 4 weeks long and my 4 weekly bus pass would need renewing on the same day every month.

[bearded bloke]

Ohh no, not politically correct lengthist month's for the sake of calm ........... ALL months were created EQUAL .................................... but some months were MORE EQUAL than OTHERS

[Jay-ell]

Ohh no, not politically correct lengthist month's for the sake of calm ........... ALL months were created EQUAL .................................... but some months were MORE EQUAL than OTHERS

30 days good, 31 days better

[veggiechicken]

30 days good, 31 days better

Not when you're paid monthly. You have to work 3 extra days in March than February for the same amount of money!

[Miss Mousetrousers]

What I want to know is........if Sept = 7, Oct = 8, Nove = 9 and Dec = 10 why do we have them as months 9, 10, 11 and 12?

I was going to post a simple reply re- the Roman and the later change to the Gregorian calendar but, looking at Wikipedia, it's best if you have a look on there. The names of months altered

January Januarius Named after the god Janus.
February Februarius Named after Februa, the purification festival.
March Martius Named after the god Mars.
April Aprilis Named either after the goddess Aphrodite or the Latin word aperire, to open.
May Maius Probably named after the goddess Maia.
June Junius Probably named after the goddess Juno.
July Julius Named after Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.E. Prior to that time its name was Quintilis from the word quintus, fifth, because it was the 5th month in the old Roman calendar.
August Augustus Named after emperor Augustus in 8 B.C.E. Prior to that time the name was Sextilis from the word sextus, sixth, because it was the 6th month in the old Roman calendar.
September September From the word septem, seven, because it was the 7th month in the old Roman calendar.
October October From the word octo, eight, because it was the 8th month in the old Roman calendar.
November November From the word novem, nine, because it was the 9th month in the old Roman calendar.
December December From the word decem, ten, because it was the 10th month in the old Roman calendar.
Also look at this link:
origin month names | The Old Farmer's Almanac

[rary]

Dear Grapes,
Can you explain something that is puzzling me please?

Why does February have 28 days while the other months have 30 or 31?
If it had 30 days, 2 of the 31 day months could be reduced to 30 days and if those months were December and January, winter would be over sooner.

What I want to know is........if Sept = 7, Oct = 8, Nove = 9 and Dec = 10 why do we have them as months 9, 10, 11 and 12?

Why did the two of you not complain when the calendar was being set up, why wait till it is working fine then find fault with it. Are you two politicians?

[veggiechicken]

Rary, we're not all as old as you
Its taken me most of my life to realise how unfair the calendar has been to February.
Poor February

[Miss Mousetrousers]

Nope - at that time we were just the vaguest twinkle in our future dad's eyes! Personally, I like February because it gets us more quickly into spring except when it's a leap year, then you have to delay your jumping for a day which gives you a bit more time to rev-up either to start seed sowing or propose on bended knee. It's just the getting up again that's the problem.