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11 Answers
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
Ever wonder why February got short-changed on days when there were plenty of months to "steal" the 31st day from?
Well, a long time ago, Augustus Caesar didn't like the fact that Julius Caesar's month (July) had 31 days and his (August) had only 30, so he "stole" a day from February to make August have 31.
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(Long version of story:)
There are 28 days in February because February was the low month on the totem pole.
Originally, the Roman calendar had 12 months of 29 or 30 days, beginning in March, with an extra (intercalary) month thrown in every other year to get things back in sync with the seasons. Unfortunately this led to abuses, as officials added or dropped intercalary months to extend their time in office or to hasten elections.
So in about 45 BC, Julius Caesar, who by now had made himself dictator of Rome, established a 365-day calendar with leap years. For reasons unknown to me but which seemed good to him at the time, he decided that instead of having five months with 31 days and seven with thirty, he would only allow February to have 30 days in a leap year. He incidentally renamed the fifth month, Quintilis, after himself (Julius, or July).
Julius' adopted son and heir, Octavian, gained control of the state a few years after Julius' assassination in 44 BC. Octavian ruled so well that the Senate granted him the name of Augustus, and after his death he was formally deified by the Senate. As part of this, the month Sextilis following July was named August, just as Augustus had followed Julius as leader of the State. But since the month now named after the God Augustus had only 30 days, another day was taken from poor February and given to August.
It sounds silly, but that's the way it was.
- 1 decade ago
Actually the answer to this goes back to ancient rome and Julius Cesar. When the Julian calendar was introduced, the legnth of the year was set to 365.25 days, and the .25 of a day was set in Feburary every four years. Originally the calander was very regular. On a leap year every month would have either 31 or 30 days and would be in a pattern (January had 31, Febuary had 30, March 31...). However at the same time, several of the months were renamed, most importantly Quintilis was renamed Iulius, for Julius Cesar, and would later become July (31 days), and also Sextilis was renamed Augustus (30 days), for Augustus Cesar. Julius Cesar took one day from Febuary and gave it to August, so that his month (July) was not superior to Augustus' month (August).
Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar - Anonymous1 decade ago
Because the months with 31 days have one more day than the months with 30 days
- auntb93againLv 71 decade ago
In early Roman days, all months had thirty days, and they stuck in four or five in between the years, called the Saturnalia, to keep it in step with the sun (more or less). Problem is, this "between the years" period got out of hand, with people taking advantage of a rather lawless position between years to drink themselves silly and make a lot of trouble. It was then replaced with just one extra day spread around the calendar here and there, and someone else will have to tell you why February got short-changed. The only thing I can think of is that February is such a dismal time -- way bored with winter, not yet spring -- that we want to make it last less time.
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- Amy FLv 51 decade ago
Because if they were all 30 days, the year would be the wrong length. As for why the specific ones are the lengths they are--well, it's not a coincidence that July and August, both named for Roman emperors, are two of the long ones! :)
- Anonymous1 decade ago
becuase long ago when jesus invented the months he wanted 12 for all his 12 cats & he named them after them but there wasnt enough days of the year to divide them equally so the ones that got less days just got more bread & wine for dinner