What's so special about February? (From Kingston Guardian)

What's so special about February?

1:48pm Monday 2nd March 2009

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By Community Correspondent: Angelika Mohr.

Many people think that February is one of the most unpleasant and unnecessary months of the year which could just as well be got rid of. I never shared this view and, probably because my birthday is in February, I always felt the need to defend it. Not only was it special to me for this personal reason, but it also deserves special attention because it is so unlike any other month of the year.

Going back in history, February was one of the last months added to the Roman calendar by Numa Pompilius in 700BC. Before this, the Romans considered winter a monthless season as the original purpose of a calendar was to govern the cycle of farming, which of course, is not carried out in winter.

For this reason, February was originally the last month of the year. It was given its name from the Latin term februum, meaning purification, due to the purification ceremony, Februa, noted in the old Roman calendar on the 15th of February. This festival was one of washing and cleaning after winter, which is associated with the increase of rain of this time of year. A Roman god, later named after both purification and the month of February carries the name Februus.

February is the shortest month of the year. In a normal year, it has only 28 days, whilst any other month has at least 30 days. Therefore, it is the only month in the year which can pass without a single full moon. Every 4th year, February has an extra day. As a child, I always felt sorry for the people born on February 29th, until my mother explained to me that, in normal years, these people just celebrate their birthday a day early or late, depending on tradition. Leap years have been introduced into the Gregorian calendar (the calendar used in most parts of the world today) to compensate for the fact that a solar year (the time it takes for the earth to orbit around the sun) is about 6 hours longer than 365 days. So, by adding a 366th day every 4 years, this inaccuracy is almost corrected.

There are several theories of why the choice of the shortest month fell on February. Some believe that people made February shorter, when it was still the last month of the year, to make winter seem less drawn out. Another, more interesting but probably less accurate story is connected to Romans. It is said that either Augustus Caesar himself or one of his admirers added the last day of February to the end of Sextilis (August), when it was renamed in the honour of Augustus. This was done because July, previously named after Julius Caesar, had one more day than August. His month being shorter than Julius Caesars was just not acceptable for the Emperor.

So, that’s why February is shorter than any other month and has a leap day. As a result, there are not so many festivals and events in February. But among Kuwait’s Liberation day (26th), Dominican Republic’s Independence Day (27th), Presidents Day in the USA (3rd Monday) and a few others, of which it is likely that only few of us can relate to, there is one which has not only become a major Saint’s Day throughout the world, but has also become the object of a huge commercial empire. The sales of chocolates, greeting cards, Champagne, roses and lingerie have flourished since the reinvention of Saint Valentines Day on 14th of February in the 1840s. Saint Valentine’s Days has, since the High Middle Ages, been the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other. It was named after a number of martyred Saints of Ancient Rome, of who very little is known.

Apart from the red hearts and pink roses of the 14th, February is a very purple month. Its birth flowers are Violets and Primroses and its birthstone is an amethyst. The amethyst, violet quartz, was mentioned in Tiffany & Co’s poems "of unknown author”* about birthstones first published in 1870: …“The February born shall find Sincerity and peace of mind, Freedom from passion and from care, If they, the Amethyst will wear.”… *(Source: Wikipedia) One other event that takes place in many countries of the world in February is the Carnival. Growing up in the city of Duesseldorf in the region of Rhineland in Germany for ten years, I always dressed up for Carnival. We also celebrated it at school and got two days off school during which we watched the Rose-Monday (Rosenmontag) Parade, where disguised individuals threw sweets down to the children from colourful carts.

Carnival was originally a Christian festival which marked the last opportunity of celebration before the 40 days of Lent until Easter. It was also the last opportunity to munch away with relish any leftover rich foods and drink, which were forbidden during Lent. Some of the most well known Carnivals around the world are the Carnvale in Venice, Italy, the Brazilian and Latin-American Carnivals and the celebrations in Rhineland, Germany, around Cologne.

A slightly different way of celebrating at this time of year is Fasnacht, held in Southern Germany and Switzerland, most famously in Basle. Each village has their own traditional costume, for both young and old. The costumes are usually colourful, always fantastically masked and sometimes even quite terrifying. People come together to scare away the evil spirits of winter or welcome the new beginning of spring.

All this is special about February. Around the world, it is an extraordinary month in its own right. Therefore, I believe it should be given the credit it deserves, because, despite its often raining days, it is the month of the first signs of spring; of crocuses and snowdrops and, if we’re lucky, the first rays of warming sunshine.

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