February
February is the
second month of the
year in the
Gregorian Calendar. It is the shortest Gregorian month and the only month with the length of 28 or 29 days. The month has 29 days in
leap years, when the year number is divisible by four (except for years that are divisible by 100 and not by 400). In other years the month has 28 days. Leap year birthdays are usually celebrated on the 28th of a non-leap year. Some believe that February originally had 29 days (30 in a leap year) until the Roman Senate gave one of its days to the month of August (named after Augustus Caesar) to make it the same length as
July. Many historians, though, think it always had 28 days, to even out the calendar. See:-
Months in various calendarsFebruary begins, astronomically speaking, with the sun in the constellation of
Capricornus and ends with the sun in the constellation of
Aquarius.Astrologically speaking, February begins with the sun in the sign of
Aquarius and ends in the sign of
Pisces.
February was named after the Latin term Februltus, which means "a righting of wrongs," as in the Roman calendar February was a month where purification rituals were to take place. January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered
winter a monthless period. This change was made by
Numa Pompilius about 700 BC in order to bring the calendar in line with a standard lunar year. Numa's Februarius contained 29 days (30 in a leap year).
Augustus is alleged to have removed one day from February and added it to August, (renamed from
Sextilis to honor himself), so that
Julius Caesar's July would not contain more days. However there is little historical evidence to support this claim.
|
February, from the Très riches heures du duc de Berry |
February was nominally the last month of the Roman calendar, as the year originally began in March. At certain intervals Roman priests inserted an intercalary month,
Mercedonius, after February to realign the year with the
seasons.
Historical names for February include the
Anglo-Saxon terms Solmoneth (mud month) and Kale-monath (named for cabbage) as well as
Charlemagne's designation Hornung. In the
old Japanese calendar, the month is called
Kisaragi (如月, 絹更月 or 衣更月, literally meaning "the month changing clothes"). It is sometimes also called
Mumetsuki (梅見月, literally meaning "the month that
ume blossoms can be seen") or
Konometsuki (木目月, literally meaning "the month that trees get new life"). In
Finnish, the month is called
helmikuu, meaning "month of the pearl".
February is recognized as
Black History Month in the United States and Canada.
"February" is pronounced without the first "r," as "Febuary," by many speakers. This is probably
elision, or an
analogical change influenced by "
January".
*
Black History Month*National
School Counseling Week (first week,
United States)
*
Groundhog Day (
February 2)
*
Mardi Gras (Sometime between
February 3 to
March 9 in non-leap years or
February 4 to
March 9 in leap years)
*
Ash Wednesday (Sometime between
February 4 to
March 10)
*
Waitangi Day,
New Zealand (
February 6)
*The
Super Bowl *
NFL Pro Bowl*
NBA All-Star game*
Daytona 500*
Westminster Dog Show*
St. Valentine's Day (
February 14)
*
Presidents' Day (3rd Monday of February), or Washington's Birthday (
February 22)
*Lincoln's Birthday (
February 12)
*Darwin Day celebration
*
Constitution Day (
Mexico) (
February 5)
*Carnaval (Celebrated before
Lent)
*American Heart Month
*
Library Lovers Month
*National Condom Month
*National Wildbird Feeding Month
*The Great Backyard Bird Count
*National Hot Breakfast Month
*
Imbolc February 2*National Engineers Week (week of Presidents day) (
United States)
*Independence Day (Dominican Republic) (February 27)
*February begins on the same day of the week as March and November in a
common year, and on the same day of the week as August in a
leap year.
*On a few occasions in history, February has had
30 days.
*February in the
Northern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent to August in the
Southern Hemisphere and vise versa.
*February's
birthstone is
amethyst.
*February's
flower is the
violet or
primrose.
*The Chinese floral emblem of February is the peach blossom
*
Historical anniversaries*
The Straight Dope: How come February has only 28 days?nds-nl:Febrewaorizh-yue:2月
