With naïve abandon we quote, “Beware the Ides of March,” a line from Shakespeare’s famous play, Julius Caesar. But March 15, the Ides of March, doesn’t have to be an unlucky day. Indeed, it can help us understand our struggle to put time in a box in the form of a calendar.
The early Roman calendar (based on a Greek lunar calendar) had 10 months with 30 or 31 days in each month: Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Iunius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, December. The spring equinox (March 21) fell in the first month. The calendar year lasted for 304 days so there was a long stretch of winter days between the end of December and the beginning of the following March that were not assigned to any month. (Wouldn’t our Canadian snowbirds just love to have 60 days of “non-time” to go to Mexico and not miss out on the fun back home, or more importantly, the health insurance.)
The Roman calendar didn’t number the days of the month sequentially. Instead, dates were counted back from the kalendes, the nones, the ides of the month. From this system one could reckon the holy days, the feast days, the market days and, most importantly, when the rent was due.
But you can’t go all winter without paying the rent, so around 713 BC the king, Numa Pompilius, inserted January and February between December and March. (And that’s why October is not the eighth month, even though Octo means eight.)
In 45 BC, Julius Caesar further modified the length of the months giving us the Julian calendar still in use today. There are 12 months and days are numbered sequentially within the month.
Most people today use the Gregorian calendar, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Because the year is approximately 365 ¼ days, this revised calendar allowed for an extra day dvdfh fourth year which we now know as Leap Day (Feb. 29). This new calendar began the year on Jan. 1 rather than on …. wait for it… the Ides of March!
So whether you’re a snowbird or a hibernating bear, it’s time to get ready for another year. Give yourself a good stretch and get ready for another wonderful spring.
