In the Gregorian calendar, February is odd considering that it only has 28 days. Why this oddity? Why can’t February have the same number of days as the other months? Why did we decided that February must have 28 days? Let’s find out.

Lunar Calendar

Early Rome worked off of a lunar calendar. A lunar calendar follows the phases of the moon to know the days of the year.

Romulan Calendar

The calendar of the Romulan republic had 10 months, of either 30 or 31 days.

Numa Pompilius

Around the year 753 B.C., Numa Pompilus was hailed the second king of Rome. Numa Pompilius changed the Roman calendar to have 12 odd-numbered months, with every month having either 29 or 31 days. The only exception to the rule was February with 28 days.

Honoring the Dead

Roman superstition at the time held that even numbers were unlucky. Numa Pompilius chose February, a month that would be host to Roman rituals honoring the dead, as the unlucky month to consist of 28 days.

Changes Numa Pompilius

Several changes have been made after Numa Pompilius made February a month with 28 days, but none of those changes changed the number of days February had. And thus, we are stuck with the fact that February has 28 days.

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