In ancient times, when calendars were first put into place, the year-measured by the cycle of changing seasons-was divided into months. The lengths of the months varied slightly from one culture to the next, but the basic length-from 28 to 31 days-was consistent across many cultures. That number of days was based on the cycle of the moon, which lasts about 29 and one-half days and is easily noticed by just observing the moonlit sky. The months could not all have the same number of days because the number of days in a year, approximately 365, is not divisible by 28, 29, 30, or 31. In the time of Roman emperor Julius Caesar, who instituted the Julian calendar in 45 b.c., it was decided that all months would have 30 or 31 days, except February, which at that time had 29 days. Why did February get short-changed? Before the Julian calendar, the new year began in March, and perhaps simply because February was the last month of the year, it was seen as the logical choice for having the fewest number of days. One version of calendar history relates how February came to have 28 days. After Julius Caesar's death, the month that was then known as Quintilis was renamed July in his honor. During the reign of Julius's successor, Augustus Caesar, the month that then had the name Sextilis was renamed in honor of the new emperor as August. While July had 31 days, August only had 30, and in order to make his month as long (and as important) as Julius's month, Augustus took a day from February and added it to August. From then on August had 31 days and February 28 (except on leap years, when it once again has 29 days).
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