February, the second month of the year but also the shortest of all. Not many people know the true reasoning behind this and many have superstitions about February, especially the 29th date with occurs every four years. A popular legend explaining why February is the shortest month is that back when Julias Caesar was in power of the Roman Empire, he named July after himself and made it the longest month giving it 31 days. Later, when Augustus Caesar came to lead the empire he wanted August, the month named after him, to also have 31 days. These two extra days were taken out of February, therefore giving it 28 days, the least in the whole year.
However it doesn’t end there, the second odd thing about February is the 29th which only occurs every four years. There is some astrological explanation behind this one though. The reason for the 29th being necessary is due to the solar system and the time it takes for the moon to make a full orbit of the sun. Therefore every few years the earth takes slightly longer, about half a day longer, to orbit the sun completely. The chance of being born on a leap day is 1/1461 which isn’t too unlikely considering them amount of people being born each day throughout the entire earth.
A common tradition for the leap year is for women to propose to men. This dates back to the old legend of an Irish nun called St Bridget who complained to St Patrick about women waiting too long for their partners to propose to them. He then granted women the leap day every four years to propose to their partner, reversing the traditional roles of society.
Pippa Watson - Ursuline Academy Ilford
Photography credits to reference.com
