The only thing that may be more perplexing than spelling February is trying to figure out why it only has 28 days long. Even during a leap year February only happens to score one extra day, still keeping it shorter than its peers in the calendar. Why does February get this unjust treatment? The answer has to do a little bit with math and a lot with superstition.
The earliest Roman calendar had only 10 months — March through December. Because ancient Rome was an agricultural society, there wasn’t much need to keep up with days or months during the winter. The old year ended in December; the new year began in March. In between was nothing, at least if you were consulting a calendar. Only when it was getting warm again and time to plant crops and plan festivals did this society start to bother about what day and ...
