February Was Actually The Last Month Of The Year

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The reason why February has the least days of all the months was because it was supposed the last month of the year. Our modern calendar is loosely based on the Roman calendar which was a 10-month lunar calendar that began in March and ended with December.

The second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius added on two months January and February after December to account for the new days. The new months each had 28 days. But the number didn't sit well with Numa as even numbers were considered bad luck at the time. So, he added a day on to January, giving the year an odd-numbered 355 days.

No one knows why February was left with 28 and remained an unlucky month. The 355-day calendar couldn't work with the seasons because it didn't take account for the Earth to orbit the sun. So, an extra "intercalary" month of 27 days was inserted so every couple of years would even things out.

In around 45 B.C., Julius Caesar commissioned an expert to make it sun-based calendar, like the Egyptians. Caesar added 10 days to the calendar year and an extra day in February every four years. Now, the year averaged out to 365.25 days, very close to the actual average length of a year: 365.2425 days..

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