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The Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from the 1st through the last day. Instead, they counted back from the three fixed points of the month: the Nones (5th or 7th), the Ides (13th or 15th), and the Kalends (1st) of the following month. The Nones of October was the 7th, and the Ides was the 15th.
Red maple (Acer rubrum) leaf in October (Northern hemisphere).October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars.Its length is 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus c. 750 BC, October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ôctō meaning "eight") after January and February were inserted into the calendar that had originally been created by the Romans.
Auspiciously, each month now had an odd number of days: Martius (March), Maius (May), Quinctilis (July), and October continued to have 31; the other months, 29, except for February, which had 28 days. Considered unlucky, it was devoted to rites of purification (februa) and expiation appropriate to the last month of the year.
Many know that the prefix oct- means eight, as in octopus or octagon. But why does October, the 10th month of the year, have this prefix?
The need to correct the calendar arose from the realisation that the correct figure for the number of days in a year is not 365.25 (365 days 6 hours) as assumed by the Julian calendar but slightly less (c. 365.242 days). The Julian calendar therefore has too many leap years.
The Gregorian calendar did not exist before October 15, 1582. Gregorian dates before that are proleptic, that is, using the Gregorian rules to reckon backward from October 15, 1582. Years are given in astronomical year numbering. Augustus corrected errors in the observance of leap years by omitting leap days until AD 8.
That day corresponded to February 29 in the Julian calendar and to March 11 in the Gregorian calendar. [5] [6] The Swedish conversion to the Gregorian calendar was finally accomplished in 1753, when February 17 was followed by March 1. [5] Artificial calendars may also have 30 days in February. For example, in a climate model the statistics may ...
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