February Winks

When the calendar was invented why were those people in a hurry to let the second month of the year have lesser days than the other months.

February has 28 days and 29 days in a Leap year.

Why?

Mind boggling.

So many theories are related to the beginning of the calendar. But, it were the Romans who gave the calendar to the world and we follow; the days and the months conscientiously. Why not, the name of the months, show the different seasons that come and go.

The widely believed -- but possibly erroneous -- story has it that February is so short because a day was borrowed from it to add to the month of August. July was renamed to honour the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar and had 31 days. August had earlier 30 days and when it was renamed to honour Emperor Augustus Caesar, he did not want his calendar month to have a lesser day than July. So a day was snatched away from February, the winter month, and added to it to make it 31 days.

Just imagine the fate of one born on 29 February. Hesitation? The Roman Emperors are to be blamed for the fate of such a child. Isn’t it?

If there are more problems its better to catch hold of Julius Caesar.

But where?

In Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar.

True. Isn’t it?