A leap into the known (From Gazette & Herald)

A leap into the known

12:09pm Thursday 4th February 2010

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

Throughout history, February has had a chequered existence and even today it differs from other months because it is the shortest.

It is the only one with fewer than 30 days; most years it musters a mere 28, but in bissextile years, alias leap years, this is extended to 29.

Bissextile comes from the Latin bissextus which referred to the original intercalary day following February 24, ie the sixth day before the calends of March. At various times February has had only 23 days and so, to bring the year in line with the seasons, a 27-day month was added. This was an intercalary month that followed February.

The addition of this extra day and month was an attempt to ensure the calendar year corresponded with the solar year, but those early changes did not get things quite right.

One of the earliest of calendar reforms was achieved by the brilliant Emperor Nuna Pompilius (715-672 BC) who established many religious institutions in Rome centuries before the Christian era.

It was Nuna who added January and February but he placed January at the start of the year and February at the end, following December. Later in 452 BC, the decemvirs, a group of 10 magistrates who governed ancient Rome, placed February after January. It then became the second month as it is today.

February’s name comes from the Latin februum meaning purification. A major festival known as Lupercalia was held, part of which was a female purification ritual called februa in honour of the god Februus.

It is interesting that in the fifth century, the Pope established a feast day called the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, otherwise known as Candlemas.

This was, and still is, celebrated on February 2 when churches are lit with candles that are blessed during Mass, and in some areas there were colourful candle-lit processions.

This was disliked by the English Puritans during the Reformation, but the practice has never died out. A further link is that snowdrops are said to bloom on February 2 and they are called purification flowers.

However, reverting to Nuna, his calendar changes did not precisely fit the seasons governed by the spring and autumn equinox consequently further changes were necessary to achieve this.

One who attempted such a change was Julius Caesar (100-44BC). In 46BC, he introduced the Julian Calendar and it remained in use throughout Western Europe until 1582 when a further change became necessary. Caesar had calculated that, to bring the calendar into line with the seasons, further alterations were needed.

It was he who ordained that the intercalary days and the extra month should be abolished; instead, every fourth year should contain 366 days.

His calculations indicated this was necessary to accommodate the few escalating hours that contrived to throw the calendar into conflict with the seasons. He ordered that the extra day should follow the sixth day before the calends of March, ie February 24. He also divided the months into the number of days that they still contain and now we call his calendar the Old Style.

He retained February as the second month of the year and the sequence of months in his time remains in use. However, his calculations were still not exactly right. The progress of each year began to divert slightly from the seasons.

As the centuries passed, the discrepancy came to the notice of Pope Gregory XIII and he introduced a new calendar to correct the problem. He noticed that the spring equinox that occurred in the time of Julius Caesar fell on March 25 whereas during his own reign it was on March 11. This was because Caesar calculated that the year was 365.25 days long but this was 11 minutes and 14 seconds in error. Gregory adjusted things by cutting 10 days from the calendar and altering October 5 to October 15 to make the equinox fall on March 21, 1583.

His changes were far from popular. Some believed he had shortened their lives and Protestant countries refused his calendar because they suspected a Popish plot. However, it was eventually adopted in England in 1752.

Gregory made other changes, one of which related to the year that marks the turn of any century. He said it should not be leap year unless divisible by 400, eg 1600, 2000 and 2400.

For all this, February remains different – it is possible that on occasions it may not experience a full moon, while if February 1 falls on a Sunday during a leap year, there may be five Sundays in that February.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)