8 Interesting facts about our calendar that reveal its secrets

For centuries and centuries, we humans have become accustomed to organizing our time around a year that lasts 12 months, with 30 or 31 days each, plus 28 or 29 days in February. However, it was not always like this. Have you ever wondered why the months have these names? Or why February is the only one with 28 days?

O awesome.club was given the task of investigating a little more about this time schedule that is so common today. And indeed, there is some very interesting data.

Initially, the calendar we know today was based on the phases of the Moon, not the solar cycle, and the year was divided into 10 month periods🇧🇷 This led to a lag in time as we know it today, so it was possible, once every few years, witness winter in mid-June🇧🇷 However, there was still that unsatisfied need to adjust and distribute time in relation to human needs.

The first ten months recognized by ancient Rome were as follows:

Martius (March): Named after Mars, the god of war and virility in Roman mythology. Aprilis (April): it was believed that the name aprilis derived from aperire, which means “open”, the month in which flowers bloom. But there is also a belief that it is a derivative of aphrosin aphroditethe Etruscan form of Aphrodite. Maius (May): Attributed to Maia, the mother of the god Mercury, identified as an agrarian goddess and related to the growth of vegetation. However, it was also a month dedicated to Majorie, the elderly. Iunius (June): Consecrated to Juno, goddess of marriage and queen of the gods, whose name means “youth.” Like the previous month, it was dedicated to a sector of the population: the youngest. Quintilis🇧🇷 so named from the place it occupied in the succession of months, that is, the fifth. sextilis: sixth. September: seventh. October: eighth. November: ninth. December: tenth.

Although the calendar seemed to work, it didn’t just adjust the days with the seasons. The phases of the Moon did not cover a full 30 days each month, and there were 6 days left to complete the entire time of the Earth’s motion relative to the Sun. To solve this problem, Numa Pompilio, the second king of Rome, made a reform in which two more months have been added to the calendar. Thus the eleventh month was called Ianuarius (January), in honor of Janus, the god of beginnings, doors and transitions. In turn, the twelfth month was called February (February), dedicated to Februus, god of purifications. Those months were located at the end of the calendar, and not at the beginning, as currently.

With Numa’s reform, the months, according to their order, had 29 or 31 days, as even numbers were considered bad luck. Everyone obeyed that rule, except February, which had an even number of days, that is, 28. This was mathematically necessary for the year to have an odd number of days and fulfill the objective of covering the 12 phases of the moon in a year, which corresponds to 355 days. It is likely that February was chosen as the last month of the year.

A rebellion that broke out in 154 a. C., in Hispania, alerted the Romans, who expected some supplies from there and feared being affected by the war. Therefore, the Roman senate took the decision to send one of the consuls to the locality. The problem was that the decision had been made in December, in the tenth month of the year🇧🇷 The consul was not yet officially appointed, as it was still the year 154 and, in accordance with the deeply rooted customs of the ancestors, consuls took office. on the first day of the year, i.e. in March🇧🇷 So there were two more months to go, January and February, before the consul could take charge of the situation and decree an end to the rebellion.

However, the urgency of ending the uprising could not wait another two months. That forced the Roman senate to change the position of the months of the calendar, leaving January and February at the beginning. In this way, the consul was able to take office and put down the rebellion in January. Since then, and forevermore, it was established that January 1st is the first day of the year, although the names of the months remained unchanged. Therefore, October, November and December are not the eighth, ninth and tenth months of the year respectively, although their names indicate so.

As the days and seasons of the year were not yet equal, the Romans used to insert a leap month on the calendar called mercedonius, a Latin name that would mean “month of work”. This had to be intercalated every 2 or 3 years, making the leap year last 377 or 378 days. the romans took days of february, which ended in 24 days, and then Mercedonius continued. However, in reality it was a very inconsistent and confusing month, since the Roman high priests were the ones who determined their arrival, and they did so for political reasons and for the convenience of their interests.

With the arrival of Julius Caesar to power, the calendar was changed with yet another reform. After the mess the high priests caused by adding and removing the leap month at will, the months and the seasons have ceased to coincide severely🇧🇷 So, with the help of a famous astronomer named Sosigenes, Julius Caesar changed the calendar and aligned it with the Earth’s movement relative to the Sun. So, the Roman leader removed mercedonius and added days to months so that the year would last 365 days. And every 4 years, one more day was added to February. At that time, the 24th of February was repeated in leap years.

After the death of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony proposed change the name of the military’s birth monththis is, Quintilis, in his honor. Thus, it ended up becoming Iulius (July).

Something very similar happened with August: sextilis was dedicated to Otávio Augusto, since it was the month in which the emperor achieved his most important victories🇧🇷 So it changed its name to Augustus (August).

The days of the week that we know today were also adopted from the Roman system, which is believed to have been influenced by the Egyptians, whose calendar dedicated each of its days to the seven great stars known at the time. Thus, the Romans named the days of the week as follows:

Sunday: originally called solis dies, or “day of the sun”. This has been maintained, for example, in English: sunday🇧🇷 But the name was modified by the influence of the church to dies dominicus: “day of the Lord”, because on that day the resurrection of Jesus Christ took place, according to the Bible. Monday: derived from Lunae dies, which means “moon day” (moons, in Spanish). Tuesday: derived from martis dies, or “Day of Mars” (martes, in Spanish). Wednesday: derived from Mercurii dies, “Mercury’s day” (miércolesin Spanish) Thursday: derived from Jovis dies, the “day of Jove” — Jupiter (juevesin Spanish) Saturday: derived from Saturni dies, the “Day of Saturn”. Just like Sunday, Saturni had its name changed to sabbat in some languages, meaning “Rest”.

We are so used to counting and seeing the days go by that we forget all the history and magic behind them. What is your favorite date or time of year? Tell us in the comments.