Another reason why February the shortest month

[inspirit]

If you search why is February the shortest month, you will probably get something about the Romans. But it's rarely ever mentioned that a lot of other ancient calendars similarly placed their shortest month of the year at the end of winter for astronomical reasons.

Astronomical winter is the period between the winter solstice and the spring equinox which is 89 days in the northern hemisphere. In ancient middle eastern solar calendars, they gave lengths to the 12 months in proportion to the 4 astronomical seasons. And because astronomical winter happens to be the shortest season with only 89 days, one of the three months in winter would need to be shorter than the others since 89 divided by 3 is 29 with a remainder of 2.

Hence the last month of winter was 29 days instead of 30 or 31. And just like today, they added an extra day to the end of this month on leap years, probably to make it closer in length to the remaining months of the year.

It's true that we get our current calendar from the Romans. But if you look at ancient middle eastern solar calendars, you will readily see this similarity with calendars today. So I think it's possible that the Romans were influenced by other nations' calendars who made the last month of winter the shortest month for astronomical reasons.

[sparkles]

ha! I just learned something new today Very interesting...

I heard the Romans got their calendar from the Egyptians. I think it was the Romans who added the leapyears, which kind of messed up how the Egyptians meant it to be (very much in synch astronomically).

[inspirit]

Originally Posted by sparkles

ha! I just learned something new today Very interesting...

I heard the Romans got their calendar from the Egyptians. I think it was the Romans who added the leapyears, which kind of messed up how the Egyptians meant it to be (very much in synch astronomically).

Yeah. The ancient Egyptians observed a 365-day calendar. But before the current Gregorian calendar was implemented the Romans observed a calendar that was off by several days from the current 365.2425-day-per-year calendar. So astronomical events like the equinoxes changed from year to year. They ultimately tossed it in favor of the current calendar based loosely on the Egyptian's 365-day solar calendar.

Thanks for posting.

[inspirit]

P.S. Many middle eastern ancient calendars observed a 365/366 day 12-month solar calendar like we do today. The main difference was that spring and summer months all had 31 days, and fall and winter months all had 30 days, except for the last month of winter which had 29 days on non-leap years. This was because astronomical fall and winter combine to make 179 days, and astronomical spring and summer combine to make more than 186 days.

[sparkles]

Originally Posted by inspirit

P.S. Many middle eastern ancient calendars observed a 365/366 day 12-month solar calendar like we do today. The main difference was that spring and summer months all had 31 days, and fall and winter months all had 30 days, except for the last month of winter which had 29 days on non-leap years. This was because astronomical fall and winter combine to make 179 days, and astronomical spring and summer combine to make more than 186 days.

That makes so much more sense than what we use now, doesn't it?

[inspirit]

I like idea of this calendar that revolves around astronomical dates like equinoxes and solstices because it would make those dates more intuitive, but it's not very practical because it would make dividing the year into even parts more difficult.

A more practical calendar would alternate between 30 day months and 31 day months, and there wouldn't be any months shorter or longer than that. A calendar like that would divide into even parts more easily. We could have a calendar like that if we took the current Gregorian calendar, and we lengthened February to 30 days instead of 28, and shortened two 31-day months such as July and December that are immediately followed by another 31-day month. That would also mean seven 30-day months per year instead of just four like we have now, which would be more in-line with the moon.

[sparkles]

sounds like a good idea - now get the whole world to follow you! haha that's the trick!

[Howla Dark]

February is the shortest but also a winter months. I devised each months like this:
January - Winter (dark, quiet, cold)
February - Winter (lighter, sweet, cold)
March - Spring (cold, shoots, damp)
April - Spring (lukewarm, blossoms, damp)
May - Spring (warm, green, flowers)
June - Summer (warmer, bright, cheerful)
July - Summer (hot, fruits, golden)
August - Summer (hotter, full, dry)
September - August (warm, harvest, reds and browns)
October - August (grey, lukewarm, vegetables)
November - August (darker, colder, wood)
Decmber - Winter (darkest, cold, wet)

[inspirit]

Originally Posted by sparkles

sounds like a good idea - now get the whole world to follow you! haha that's the trick!

I just need to get a letter writing campaign started. Lots of work to be done! :P

You never know though.

Originally Posted by Howla Dark

February is the shortest but also a winter months. I devised each months like this:

I like it. I think you meant Autumn and not August though!

[Howla Dark]

Yes I meant Autumn. Unfortunately I can't edit that.