Why Does February <br />Only Have 28 Days? Around 800 BCE, the Romans <br />used the Calendar of Romulus, <br />which only had 10 months. January and February didn't exist. According to their calendar, a year <br />only had 304 days because winter <br />was considered worthless by farmers. King Numa Pompilius decided <br />to change that in 713 BCE. He reorganized the calendar to reflect the year's <br />12 lunar cycles (355 days) and added January <br />and February to the end of the year. Due to Roman's <br />being superstitious <br />about even numbers, Eventually, things fell out of sync, <br />prompting the Romans to periodically claim <br />a 27-day leap month, known as Mercedonius. Nobody could keep up with the <br />randomness of Mercedonius, <br />which caused mass confusion. By the time Julius Caesar had his reign, <br />he decided enough was enough and <br />restructured the calendar once again. He charted the new calendar by the sun, <br />adding up to 365 days, and moved February <br />to the beginning instead of the end. For whatever reason, he kept <br />February at only 28 days. Maybe he just <br />couldn't wait for spring <br />like the rest of us.
