print-friendly version of this document.

History of Leap Year Days

Why is there a Leap Year Day?

Hexagram 49.
Fire in the lake: the image of Revolution.
Thus the superior man
Sets the calendar in order
And makes the seasons clear.

Our calendar originally comes from a semi-lunar one, this is why the word month is so similar to the word moon. The twelve months followed the actual lunar movement by adopting months of 29 and 30 days alternately. This result gave a year of 354 days, which followed the moons, but was far short of the 365-day solar year.

For this reason, an intercalary month of varying length was added every two to three years. This completed the solar year, and kept the seasons in order.

In Roman times, the intercalary month became a way for the Roman Pontiffs to manipulate politics. The Pontiffs decided when the intercalary month would occur: Consuls who they favored were given an extra month in office. Those who they disliked found themselves out of office, even though an intercalary month was overdue.

The result was that in troubled times, the Roman calendar gradually got out of hand, as people added or withdrew intercalary months for political reasons, and not to keep the seasons in order.

By the time Julius Caesar returned to Rome in 45 B.C. the abuse of this practice was so great that the Spring Equinox was falling in winter. This was creating disturbances and confusion throughout the Empire. To restore the calendar to its supposed original relation with the seasons, he extended the year of 45 B.C. to 445 days, adding the months of Unidecember and Duodecember… This became known as the Year of Confusion.

Julius Caesar, under the advice of Cleopatra's astrologer Sosiegenes, changed the Roman semi-lunar calendar to fit the Egyptian calendar of Thoth. He adjusted the lengths of the months so that there were 365 days to a year with only one intercalary day required every four years.

The year of 44 B.C. would start on January 1st, the first new moon after Winter Solstice. Caesar changed the name of the month Quintilis, which means 5, to Julius, or July. He also had coins struck to commemorate the Calends of the new year. The first year of the new calendar was also the first time any ruler in the Roman Republic had minted coins with their own portrait on them. At this time in history temples were to be built to him as if he was a god.

One might think that since the new year began on January 1st, that the intercalary, or leap year day, would be on December 32. Though Caesar made radical changes to the calendar, he did not feel that he could move the time when the intercalations where made because they had become interwoven with the religious observances during the month of February. This was the when the Pontiffs had previously added their intercalary month for Consuls they favored, the time Caesar had done away with.

On the Ides (or 15th) of February the festivals of Lupercalia were celebrated. These feasts were believed to honor the god Februus, the purifier. To celebrate the holy day, two male priests ran through the streets wearing only the skins of sacrificed animals, beating women with leather straps called februa in the belief that it would make them fertile. It seems that in order to make his calendar change part of religious observances he chose this day - the ancient precursor to Valentines day - to appear before the crowd for the first time in a purple toga and a gold wreath, the dress of the ancient kings of Rome.

He was then presented to the public for the first time as Dictatus Perpetuus, or dictator for life. His Consul, Mark Anthony, offered him the crown of Rome and the title of Rex or king, which Caesar turned down saying that Jupiter alone is the king of Rome - and the crowd cheered. The people feared the idea of a king, they had the right to vote and lived in a powerful Republic.

The crowds cheered the new Dictatus Perpetuus, but the members of the Senate realized they had lost complete control of the calendar and realized the full meaning of the word dictator. They assassinated him exactly one month later, on the Ides of March.

Complete chaos and anarchy ensued until about 30 B.C. All of the Senators were killed, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra committed suicide. The only Patricians left standing were the son of Julius Caesar, Augustus and his supporters.

Augustus Caesar took complete control of the Republic and declared that he and his father were Gods. Augustus placed his name in the calendar, August, alongside that of his father, July.

...And that is why we have leap year days on February 29, and why our calendar is as crooked and illogical as it is.

So if you want to give to Caesar what is Caesar's, why not start with his outdated calendar.

Take a Day-Out-of-Time this 25th of July!

Julius Caesar and February 29| Leap Year Days | Wavespells Out of Time

<< go back | home