Jewelry Reflections
Fascinating February
F
ebruary started out as the last month of the year in the Roman calendar. January and February were added to the Roman
calendar about 713 BC. Prior to that time Romans considered winter to be a monthless period. About 450 BC, the Roman
calendar was re-arranged and February became the second month of the year. At certain intervals, February was truncated to
23 or 24 days and a temporary 27-day month was inserted immediately after February to realign the year with the seasons. The
reforms that created the Julian calendar in 45 BC did away with the temporary month and created leap years which occurred
every four years. During leap years, February gained a 29th day. The Julian calendar was replaced by t HܙY