Check out here what you can see in the February’s night sky.
Just like the month January, the origin of the name February is found in ancient Rome, during a time of festivals, for cleansing, neighbours and matchmaking. It comes from the Latin term “Februarius,” named after the Roman festival of Februa, a month-long period of purification and atonement, a time for cleansing and purging, both physically and spiritually.
The Romans believed this was important for preparing for the new year, as February was originally the last month of the Roman calendar. Februa is also similar to the Latin word for fever – febris, sweating, similar to what the land looks like when the snow melts into mud and steam rises from the ground when the Sun is as the days get longer in the northern hemisphere.
But wait, when was soap invented?
2800 BC!! This is what the Cleaning Institute tells us – which also has a lovely timeline of soap usage.
Evidence has been found that ancient Babylonians understood soap making as early as 2800 BC Archeologists have found soap-like material in historic clay cylinders from this time. These cylinders were inscribed with what we understand as saying, “fats boiled with ashes” (a method of making soap).
The Cleaning Institute
How February got its name
Lupercalia and the origins of Valentine’s day
Overlapping Februa, the festival Lupercalia was also observed on the 15th of February, which had the purpose to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility. Today, we just use detergent but any reason is a good reason to have a party. Lupercalia was also called dies Februatus, after the instruments of purification called februa (now replaced with soap), which gave February (Februarius) its name. Along with cleansing, Lupercalia also included elements of matchmaking and celebration of love, making it a precursor to some of the modern traditions of Valentine’s Day.
Who would have thought then that more than two thousand years later, on 14 of February 1990, otherwise known as 1990’s Valentine’s day, Voyager Space Craft took the photograph of Earth, known as the Pale Blue Dot.
Terminallia – love thy neigbour
On February 23rd, another festival, called Terminallia, was held featuring Terminus, the God of endings and boundaries. This festival was less about purification or fertility and more focused on the respect and marking of property limits. Landowners would celebrate boundaries with offerings and sacrifices, seeking to appease Terminus to protect their lands. Neighbours would also often come together during this festival to reaffirm their mutual respect for one another’s boundaries. This particular god must also have served as inspiration for planet Terminus, the capital city of the First Foundation, located at the edge of the Galaxy in Isaac Asimov’s books.
Chopping and changing February
February is the last month to enjoy the summer here at mid latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, the equivalent of August in the Northern Hemisphere. It took a lot of iterations to get February to be the month that hosts the extra day for the leap year. The story goes back to the founding of Rome.
Romulus
When King Romulus introduced the lunar calendar for his beloved Urbe (city) he gave it only ten months and a total of 304 days, with the new year beginning in March. Is not that Romulus did not know there were more days in a year, he did but the unamed January and February were like no-man’s land – a time when nothing happened in winter. A fantastic book by Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita – in the year since the city’s founding, informs its readers that the great city of Rome was founded in the year 753 (BC).
Numa Pompilius
Fifty years later, Numa Pompilius the second king of Rome wanted to align the calendar with the lunar year, which is approximately 354 days long. To reach this number, he needed to add 50 or 51 days to the existing calendar. Numa split these additional days between January and February, but due to superstitious beliefs (the Romans considered even numbers to be unlucky), he tried to ensure that each month had an odd number of days. This resulted in a calendar where most months had 29 or 31 days, but February, being the last month of the year at that time, received the leftover 28 days.
Julius Caesar
When Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 45 BC (creating the Julian Calendar), he fixed most months at 30 or 31 days to better align the calendar with the solar year of approximately 365.25 days. February, however, remained at 28 days, except during leap years when an extra day was added to make up for the quarter day not accounted for each year. This created a 365-day year with an extra day every four years, more accurately aligning with the solar year.
Pope Gregory XIII
The Gregorian calendar, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and the most widely used today, continued this system. Thus, February has 28 days, but during leap years, it has 29 days to compensate for the additional quarter day accumulated over four years. This keeps the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year.
February through spacetime
Astronomical Significance: For Northern Hemisphere observers, this is the snowiest month, offering a bright backdrop for stargazing. In contrast, the Southern Hemisphere experiences the tail end of summer, making for warmer nights under the stars. One things is certain, after the summer long days hyatus, the days are definitely getting longer or shorter depending which hemisphere you are.
Historical and Cultural Observances: February is not just about the stars and planets; it’s a time marked by significant historical events and diverse cultural observances. From signing the Treaty of Paris in 1763 to celebrating the Chinese New Year, which sometimes falls in this month, February is a tapestry of human history and cultural richness. Some examples are:
- Chinese New Year: Also known as the Spring Festival, this is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture. While the date varies based on the lunar calendar, it often falls in February. It’s a time for family reunions, traditional foods, and various customs meant to usher in good luck and prosperity for the new year.
- Vasant Panchami (India): This Hindu festival, marking the beginning of spring, usually falls in late January or February. It’s celebrated by worshipping Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, and is considered an auspicious day for students.
- Imbolc (Celtic): Celebrated on February 1st, Imbolc is a Gaelic traditional festival marking the beginning of spring. It is associated with the goddess Brigid and involves various customs celebrating the arrival of longer, warmer days.
- Setsubun (Japan): This is a Japanese festival held on February 3rd or 4th, marking the day before the beginning of spring in Japan. It involves a ritual called mamemaki, where roasted soybeans are thrown to purify the home and to bring good luck.
Stellar Birthdays: The month also celebrates the birthdays of luminaries like Thomas Edison the inventor of the light bulb, Charles Darwin who taught us about evolution and Galileo Galilei the inventor of the telescope, whose contributions have illuminated our understanding of the natural and celestial worlds.
Special Days in February: In addition to Valentine’s Day, a day of love and affection, February hosts National Weatherperson’s Day (5th) and National Pizza Day (9th). These days add a unique flavour to the month, celebrating various aspects of life and nature.
Here is a photo of our favourite pizzeria in New Zealand, Alessandro’s Pizza in Havelock North. We eat there every time we are in the area.
Leap Years
So if someone is born on February the 29th… when do they legally turn 18?
2024 is a leap year. A leap year is a year in which an extra day is added to the calendar to synchronize it with the solar year. The solar year, the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the sun, is about 365.24 days. However, our calendar year is normally only 365 days. To account for the extra approximately 0.24 days, we add one extra day every four years, making those years 366 days long. This extra day is added to the month of February, which has 29 days instead of the usual 28 in a leap year. This system helps keep our calendar in alignment with Earth’s revolutions around the Sun.
The Pale Blue Dot
Probably, the most beautiful gift humanity as a whole received in February was the photo of the Pale Blue Dot, an image that forever changed our outlook onto who we are. Taken on February 14, 1990, by the Voyager 1 space probe from approximately 6 billion kilometres away from Earth.
Original caption: This narrow-angle color image of the Earth, dubbed ‘Pale Blue Dot’, is a part of the first ever ‘portrait’ of the solar system taken by Voyager 1. The spacecraft acquired a total of 60 frames for a mosaic of the solar system from a distance of more than 4 billion miles from Earth and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic. From Voyager’s great distance Earth is a mere point of light, less than the size of a picture element even in the narrow-angle camera. Earth was a crescent only 0.12 pixel in size. Coincidentally, Earth lies right in the center of one of the scattered light rays resulting from taking the image so close to the sun. This blown-up image of the Earth was taken through three color filters – violet, blue and green – and recombined to produce the color image. The background features in the image are artifacts resulting from the magnification.
By Voyager 1 – <a rel=”nofollow” class=”external free” href=”http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=52392″>http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=52392</a>, Public Domain, Link
