February 30

Under the Gregorian calendar, February contains 28 or 29 days. However, three times in history in selected countries, it actually had 30 days:

• The Swedish realm (which included Finland at the time) planned to change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar beginning in 1700 by omitting the leap days for the next 40 years. Thus 1700 was not a leap year in Sweden, but both 1704 and 1708 were leap years contrary to the plan. This brought the Swedish calendar one day ahead of the Julian calendar but still ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar was restored when, in 1712, two leap days were added, thus giving that year a February 30. That date corresponded to February 29 in Julian and March 11 in Gregorian counting. The Swedish change to the Gregorian calendar was finally done in 1753.
• In 1929 the Soviet Union introduced a revolutionary calendar in which every month had 30 days and the remaining 5 or 6 days were monthless holidays. In 1930 and 1931, it thus had a February 30, but in 1932 the months regained their old lengths.

The 13th century scholar Sacrobosco claimed that in the Julian calendar February had 30 days in leap years from 44 BC until 8 BC, when Augustus shortened February to give the month August named after him the same length as July named after his precursor Julius Caesar. However there is no other historical evidence for this, and it is most likely a myth, albeit a very old one.

Sources

• The Oxford Companion to the Year. Bonnie Blackburn & Leofranc Holford-Strevens. Oxford University Press 1999. ISBN 0192142313. Pages 98-99.

External links

• Naturalists Almanac February 30 | February 30?
• 30 days in February 1712
• Change of calendars - Sweden

February 29 - March 1

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

See also: February 30, 1700, 1704, 1708, 1712, 1753, 1929, 1930, 1931