Re: WHAT calendar for the current year 2012

On Jan 29, 2008 6:10 AM, R A Brown <ray@...> wrote:

> I wasn't aware there was a dread of February - except that it's a pretty
> miserable month in the northern hemisphere.

"Although for such a beastly month as February,
 Twenty-eight as a rule are plenty
 One year in every four his days shall be reckoned as NINE and twenty."

It was originally the last month of the year and one of purification,
> getting ready for the new
> year in March.

Well, *originally* originally, it didn't exist at all; the year started with
March and ended with December, and then they just didn't bother keeping
track of the time in between or something... and that'd be the Greeks who
came up with that calendar.  I swear the Romans didn't have an original bone
in their collective body. :)

Also it was the month into which Mercedonius (22 or 23
> days) was intercalated in alternate years to keep the year in sync with
> the earth's movement around the sun.

And it was this split that led to the belief that it was unlucky.  The other
major contributing factor to the month lengths is that the Romans also
thought that even numbers were unlucky, so their lunar (and later lunisolar)
calendar had months of 29 and 31 days instead of the usual 29/30 day
alternation.  (This meant that even if the month lengths were chosen
optimally, the lunar alignment would sometimes have to be more than a full
day off the true phase of the moon).


--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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