History Series: February

History of February

That Shortest Month

February is the month we love to misspell, or at least mispronounce, but you’re forgiven for dropping the first “r”; dissimilation causes people to do that when two “r” or “l”s are in close proximity to each other in a word.

The word came from the Latin Februa, an ancient Roman purification festival around the time of the full moon that lent its name to the Roman deity Februus. Februum in Latin means purification. You might think of it as early Spring Cleaning.

King Numa Pompilius added the month to the original 10-month Roman calendar in 713 B.C. Until 450 B.C., March 1 was the New Year, as I discussed previously. When Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 46 B.C., the month was assigned only 28 days (29 days in Leap Years).

Remembering February

You may recall the mnemonic:

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November,
All the rest have thirty-one,
But February’s twenty-eight,
The leap year, which comes once in four,
Gives February one day more.

What significant things happen in this shortest month of the year?

February Food

• February 1 is celebrated as Ice Cream for Breakfast…