Now you know why the calendar adds one day every four years. It takes approximately 365 and a quarter days for the Earth to revolve around the Sun. Every four years, you get an extra day and an extra few minutes. Minor rounding errors in this calculation are offset by steps such as removing extra days in leap years for years ending in '00'.
But my question is why February only has 28 days in other years. After all, there are 31 days in January and 31 days in March. If these 2 months each contributed 1 day to his February, all 3 months would be 30 days, making 3 out of 4 years, and his February in a leap year could be his 31st. There is a gender. Bimonthly is 30 or 31 days. Why does February only have 28 days?
The answer to such a question leads to a digression into the history of the calendar. in this case, Jonathan Hogebach writes on the Britannica website: It seems to have settled on Roman King Numa Pompilius around 700 BC, before the beginning of the Roman Empire. The ancient Roman calendar at the time was flawed. There weren't enough days left. Hogebach writes:
The earliest ancestor of the Gregorian calendar, the first Roman calendar, had a distinct difference in structure from later variants, consisting of 10 months instead of 12. In order to perfectly synchronize the calendar with the lunar calendar, the Roman king Numa Pompilius Added January and February to the original 10 months. In the previous calendar, six months had 30 days and four months had 31 days, for a total of 304 days. However, Roman superstition at the time believed that even numbers were unlucky, so Numa wanted to avoid including even numbers in his calendar. He subtracted his 1 day from the 30 day month to make his 29 days. His year in the lunar calendar is made up of 355 days (354.367 days to be exact, but calling it 354 days makes the whole year seem unlucky!). That means there are 56 days left. Ultimately, out of 12 months, at least he had to have an even number of days in each month. This is due to a simple mathematical fact. The sum of odd and even numbers (12 months) is always equal to an even number. And he wanted the sum to be an odd number. So Numa chose February, the month of Roman rituals honoring the dead, as an unlucky month of 28 days.
This discussion explains why February was the month of rituals honoring the dead. In Numa's calendar, his year of 355 days consists of 11 months with lucky odd numbers of 29 or 31 days, and his unlucky February.
This discussion also discusses why months beginning with the prefixes „October“ or 8, „November“ or 9, and „December“ or 10 are actually October, November, and December on the calendar. is also explained. These names were originally part of a 10-month calendar year.
But questions remain unanswered. Why did the Romans at the time think that odd numbers were lucky compared to even numbers, which were unlucky? I think it's hard to explain superstitions, but I've never seen a great explanation. Dartmouth's „Geometry in Art and Architecture“ course also includes a course that explains Pythagoras' sentiments regarding odd and even numbers. For those who keep sheet music at home, Pythagoras lived about two centuries after Numa Pompilius.of Overview of Dartmouth Course Materials Aspects of “Pythagorean number symbolism”:
Odd numbers were considered masculine numbers. Even numbers are feminine because they are weaker than odd numbers. When divided, unlike odd numbers, there is nothing in the center. Furthermore, odd + even is always an odd number, so odds are the master. And two even numbers will never produce an odd number, but two odd numbers will produce an even number. Odd numbers became associated with good luck, as the birth of a son was considered more fortunate than the birth of a daughter.
Various references to odd luck have been made over time. Several centuries later, in the 1st century B.C. The poet Virgil has a character called Alfesiboeus (a shepherd who sings about love rituals) in Eclogue VIII. (from AS Klein translation):
Take Daphnis home, my song, take him home from the city.
First, tie three colored threads around you
and turn your image around these altars three times.
God Himself is pleased with odd numbers.
Take Daphnis home, my song, take him home from the city.
Or jump over a thousand and a half years,Beginning of Act 5 Merry Wives of the WindorShakespeare has Falstaff say:
Prissy, please don't talk anymore. go. I'll hold.this
This is the third time. I hope that odd numbers bring good luck.
Go away, go.They say there is divinity in strange things
A number of birth, chance, or death.
Away.
I acknowledge this history of odd-number beliefs, but as someone born on an even day in an even month in an even year, I am not inclined to accept it. But what's interesting is that modern photographers have a guideline for photo composition called the „Law of Odds.“ Rick Ohnsman of Digital Photography School, For example:
This is where the law of odds comes into play. This is a deceptively simple yet powerful tool in your photography arsenal. It's all about placing your subjects in odd numbers to create a composition that is naturally pleasing to the eye. Unlike more static guidelines, Odds' Law provides a blend of structure and organic flow that makes images beautiful and appealing.
Numa Pompilius' revised calendar did not last long. At just 355 days, it did not reflect the actual period in which the Earth revolves around the sun, leading to further revisions that are a story in themselves.
But if you think about it, the problem with February having 28 days all goes back to Numa Pompilius and superstitions about odd numbers. Modern calendars typically have 365 days in a year. You might think the obvious way to break this up is to start the 12 months with 30 days and then add 5 days. In fact, the ancient Egyptians had this type of calendar, with five „egomenal“ or „extracalendar“ days added each year.
For the past 2,000 years, at least since the time of Julius Caesar, 12 months have been preferred, some of which have been one day longer. But still, why in a normal year does he have 5 months in his 31 days and the rest not 30 days? The „problem“, I think, is that most months the unlucky total number of days ends up being an even number. By making February his 28 days instead of 30, he redistributes the 2 days from February and allows him to have 31 days in January and his March. Therefore, there are only four months each year with an even number of 30 days (“30 days include September, April, June, November…”), and an even luckier month with an odd number of 31 days. There are always 7 months to go. In a leap year, if February has 29 days, the 8th month will have an odd number of days. Does this mean he thinks February 29th will be his lucky day?