{"id":10932,"date":"2022-02-05T00:37:59","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T23:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10932"},"modified":"2022-02-05T00:52:35","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T23:52:35","slug":"the-trouble-with-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10932","title":{"rendered":"The Trouble With February"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE TROUBLE WITH FEBRUARY<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

February has long been at the centre of attempts to create a workable calendar. The fact it has 28 days can be traced back to ancient Rome. The Roman\u2019s first lunar calendar was just 10 months long and did not even have a January or February, because the Romans didn\u2019t think the period was important because it had nothing to do with harvesting. Eventually, Rome\u2019s first king, Numa Pompilius (753\u2013673 BC), decided to create a new calendar based on lunar cycles. This calendar was based on a 355 day year and introduced two new additional months – January and February. Even numbers were considered unlucky but if the new calendar was to work then one month would have to have an even number of days. February was chosen and given 28 days, all the rest had 29 or 31. The new calendar was constantly undermined by priests who had the power to remove a month from the calendar year. If they didn\u2019t like someone elected to office the priests would shorten his term by leaving a month out!<\/p>\n

\"\"To sort out the mess, in 45BC, Julius Caesar commissioned an expert to create a sun-based calendar similar to the one the Egyptians used. The Julian Calendar added a little more than 10 days to each year, making each month 30 or 31 days long, except for February left with 28 days. However every four years, now known as a \u2018leap year\u2019, February was given an extra day. Caesar was delighted. Not only was the new calendar named after him, but he chose to name July after himself as well. Not to be outdone, on becoming emperor Augustus Caesar named August.<\/p>\n

By the 16th century, because the earth does not travel around the sun in exactly 365.25 days, Caesar\u2019s calendar got way out of sync. To solve the problem, Pope Gregory VIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582. This calendar got things in sync again but controversially involved moving dates up 10 days.<\/p>\n

In 1752 there was widespread opposition to plans to bring our calendar in line with that of Europe. Ordinary people were alarmed by the changes to festivals, Saints days, birthdays and the dates of wage payments and trading contracts. Some came to the conclusion that the government were stealing 11 days from their lives. There followed the so called \u2018Calendar Riots\u2019 with popular cries of \u2018Give us our eleven days back\u2019 by protesters.<\/p>\n

An Act of Parliament implemented calendar reform on Wednesday 2nd September, 1752, with the next day declared to be Thursday September 14th. The new calendar meant that New Year\u2019s Day, previously on March 25th, now fell on January 1st. Interestingly, to avoid losing 11 days of tax revenue, the official start of the new tax year was changed to 5th April. A further change, prompted by a small leap year issue, was made in 1800, moving the date to 6th April where it remains today.<\/p>\n

Not everyone was unhappy about the introduction of the new Gregorian calendar. According to one tale, a certain William Willett, keen on a joke, wagered that he could dance non-stop for 12 days and 12 nights. On the evening of September 2nd 1752, he started to jig around the village and continued all through the night. The next morning, September 14th by the new calendar, he stopped dancing and claimed his bets!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE TROUBLE WITH FEBRUARY February has long been at the centre of attempts to create a workable calendar. The fact it has 28 days can be traced back to ancient Rome. The Roman\u2019s first lunar calendar was just 10 months long and did not even have a January or February, because the Romans didn\u2019t think the period was important because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,128],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-2Qk","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5371,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5371","url_meta":{"origin":10932,"position":0},"title":"Happy New Year","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th January 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"2009 Happy New Year New Year traditions and celebrations vary enormously across the globe. This is perfectly illustrated by countries in Asia. China and India for example are among many countries who celebrate New Year on dates other than January 1, which has been widely used since the official adoption\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/New-year-2-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13927,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13927","url_meta":{"origin":10932,"position":1},"title":"Are You Ready To Celebrate?","author":"Alan Williams","date":"13th February 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"ARE YOU READY TO CELEBRATE? \u00a0 While February 14th is of course Valentine\u2019s Day, a closer look at this month\u2019s calendar reveals a host of \u2018important\u2019 events and milestones. If we obey February\u2019s call to arms, we will be supporting a host of admirable causes as well as eating numerous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16543,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16543","url_meta":{"origin":10932,"position":2},"title":"Wenvoe Community Wassailing","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th January 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group Wenvoe Community Wassailing Mike Tucker has been out and about trimming and laying the hedgerows planted by the Wildlife Group and the Scouts. Another ancient tradition that we have managed to re-establish in the village. Mike has also been crafting and installing rustic props to help secure\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for February 2026"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for February 2026","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=430"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Wildlife-Group-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15084,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15084","url_meta":{"origin":10932,"position":3},"title":"Report from the Hub Feb 2025","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th February 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"WENVOE COMMUNITY HUB Tel: 02920 594176 \u2013 during opening hours or wenvoelibrary@outlook.com Like and follow us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com\/WenvoeCommunityLibrary For general enquiries you can email us at wenvoelibrary@outlook.com Report from the Hub \uf02a Coffee at the Hub \u2013 why not come in and have a coffee, tea or chocolate.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Community Hub"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Community Hub","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4294,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4294","url_meta":{"origin":10932,"position":4},"title":"January and February Events","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th February 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Rosemary Scadden was our speaker on January 24ty, with one of her new talks \u201cOn the edge\u201d. Rosemary told us of villages along the edge of the Severn Estuary, some we had not heard of. This was followed on the 31st by Annette Bracey giving us some keep fit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Leisure Group"","block_context":{"text":"Leisure Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=42"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2339,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=2339","url_meta":{"origin":10932,"position":5},"title":"Meeting Schedule February","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd February 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The group had a brief meeting in January in which the village Christmas tree was taken down and cut up for disposal. It was a larger tree this year and I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll agree that it was a focal point in the village. Our next meeting will be on\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10932"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10932"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10935,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10932\/revisions\/10935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}