Why Are There Only 28 Days in February?

Britannica History & Society ^ | February 01, 2025 | Jonathan Hogeback

[Red Badger]

Each month in the modern Gregorian calendar consists of at least 28 days. That number would be a nicely rounded 30 were it not for February. While every month besides the second in the calendar contains at least 30 days, February falls short with 28 (and 29 on a leap year). So why is the most widely used calendar in the world so inconsistent in the lengths of its months? And why is February stuck with the fewest number of days? Blame it on Roman superstition.

The Gregorian calendar’s oldest ancestor, the first Roman calendar, had a glaring difference in structure from its later variants: it consisted of 10 months rather than 12. In order to fully sync the calendar with the lunar year, the Roman king Numa Pompilius added January and February to the original 10 months. The previous calendar had had 6 months of 30 days and 4 months of 31, for a total of 304 days. However, Numa wanted to avoid having even numbers in his calendar, as Roman superstition at the time held that even numbers were unlucky. He subtracted a day from each of the 30-day months to make them 29. The lunar year consists of 355 days (354.367 to be exact, but calling it 354 would have made the whole year unlucky!), which meant that he now had 56 days left to work with. In the end, at least 1 month out of the 12 needed to contain an even number of days. This is because of simple mathematical fact: the sum of any even amount (12 months) of odd numbers will always equal an even number—and he wanted the total to be odd. So Numa chose February, a month that would be host to Roman rituals honoring the dead, as the unlucky month to consist of 28 days.

Despite changes in the calendar as it was altered after Numa’s additions—alterations that include the shortening of February at certain intervals, the addition of a leap month, and eventually the modern leap day—February’s 28-day length has stuck.

[Red Badger]

PinGGG!.................

[j.havenfarm]

I’d read that February had 29, but Augustus was unhappy that Julius’ month had 31 days so he took one from February so he’d have the same number in August. I can’t vouch for it, but that’s what I read

[Scrambler Bob]

DOGE efficiency.

You only need one page to cover every month of the year.

All days land on the same day of the week.

Win. Win. Win.

[Repeal The 17th]

Well, it is a cold month,
so I am glad it passes quickly!

[Stosh]

Plus it’s nice to have a really exclusive month for birthdays of people like Washington, Lincoln, Reagan (and myself).

[Right_Wing_Madman]

So Numa chose February, a month that would be host to Roman rituals honoring the dead, as the unlucky month to consist of 28 days.

According to the Roman calendar, March was the first month of the year and February was the last.

Also, in the Roman Republic and Empire, February was the "festival and party" month of the year. It was typical for Romans and Italians to not work during the entire month of February, to include slaves.

[Red Badger]

“It was typical for Romans and Italians to not work during the entire month of February, to include slaves.”

Explains much, it does...................

[BobL]

“Why Are There Only 28 Days in February?”

The Russians made us do it.

[jcon40]

My comic son proposed to his girl on Feb 29th a few years back.

She thought he meant 2 years from then but he later explained it was 8 years til the 2nd Feb 29th

They still love each other

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I like this one:

The International Fixed Calendar (also known as the Cotsworth plan, the Cotsworth calendar, the Eastman plan or the Yearal)^[1] was a proposed reform of the Gregorian calendar designed by Moses B. Cotsworth, first presented in 1902.^[2] The International Fixed Calendar divides the year into 13 months of 28 days each. A type of perennial calendar, every date is fixed to the same weekday every year. Though it was never officially adopted at the country level, the entrepreneur George Eastman instituted its use at the Eastman Kodak Company in 1928, where it was used until 1989.^[3] While it is sometimes described as the 13-month calendar or the equal-month calendar, various alternative calendar designs share these features.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

My comic son proposed to his girl on Feb 29th a few years back.

They should have been married on February 29th. That way, he'd only forget his wedding anniversary once every four years.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Communists.

[Sacajaweau]

lol

[Paal Gulli]

Climate change, obviously.

[Wayne07]

March	  Mensis Martius    Month of Mars	      31
April	  Mensis Aprilis    Month of Apru (Aphrodite) 30
May	  Mensis Maius      Month of Maia	      31
June	  Mensis Iunius	    Month of Juno	      30
July	  Mensis Quintilis  Fifth Month	              31
August	  Mensis Sextilis   Sixth Month	              30
September Mensis September  Seventh Month	      30
October	  Mensis October    Eighth Month	      31
November  Mensis November   Ninth Month	              30
December  Mensis December   Tenth Month	              30

Funny that the months named after their numerical position all got messed up by the insertion of January and February. Should have stuck them at the end of the year!

[linMcHlp]

Long time ago, there were 6 months, soon followed by 7 months . . . plus the no-harvest-season gap (winter).

Over time, there was increased interest in improving the predictability of when to plant the first seeds (barley?) some time in March usually, but occasionally early April.

That interest was paralleled somewhat, by interest in improving navigation and predicting the weather.

So, Julius Caesar arranged for the 12 months, including the Leap Year.

IIRC.

[immadashell]

Ok, but I have one question: why does February have 28 days (forgetting leap year)?

[Red Badger]

It’s a leftover from an old Roman superstition, so it’s pretty old.............

[immadashell]

One more question: how does daylight savings time save any daylight?