Where did the word “February” come from?
February comes from “februa,” a Latin word meaning “to cleanse,” and was named after a month-long purification festival held this time of the year.
Amusingly, in 2000, the Institute of Business Technology named the second Monday in February as National Clean Out Day. But, it’s not for cleansing the soul… but for cleaning computers!
How do they say February in other languages?
The word February translates to over 100 other languages. Some of these languages are as follows:
Èryuè – Chinese (Mandarin)
Februari – Dutch
Février – French
Februar – German
Febbraio – Italian
Februarius – Latin
Why is February shortened to 28 days?
Believe it or not, a past Roman superstition made this happen.
The Roman King Numa Pompilius added January and February to the original 10 month calendar to fully sync a new calendar with the lunar year.
However, Numa wanted to avoid having even numbers in his calendar, as Roman superstition at the time held that even numbers were unlucky.
To try and avoid this, he chose February, a month that would be host to Roman rituals honoring the dead, as the unlucky month to consist of 28 days.
Why does it become 29 days every four years? And why is it called a leap year?
It’s time for some leap year facts? Relative to avoiding even numbers, Numa added a leap month at a certain interval – with February having 29 days every four years.
The term “leap” is supposed to describe how the calendar catches up with the Earth’s orbit.
By adding a 29th day to February, the calendar year was synchronized with the astronomical year.
How many people are born on February 29?
The probability of February 29 birthdays is 1 in 1,461.
U.S. Census Bureau data reveals that only about 0.07% or 205,000 people in the U.S. have a February 29 birthday.
Another interesting fact about February: People born on February 29 are called “leapers.” How cool is that!?
How and when do “Leapers” celebrate their birthday?
“Leapers” get to celebrate their actual birthdays only every four years.
They usually celebrate their birthdays on February 28 or March 1 and use these dates on official documents.
Famous “leapers” are Pope Paul III, Tony Robbins, Mark Foster and Ja Rule. Sorry they aren’t the most famous celebrities there!
People born on a leap day are technically younger!
Technically, if you were born on leap day, you’d be younger than your actual age.
Let’s say you were born on February 29, 1993. If you count the non-leap years, you’re 28-years-old (obviously). However, if you just count the leap years, you’ll only be 7-years-old. This could be the secret to eternal youth!