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Februarius

For the month in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, see February.
Drawing of the month of February (Mensis Februarius) based on the Calendar of Philocalus (354 AD), with a caption explaining that because the wandering Manes or souls of the dead can permeate the earth in this month, "the shades" (ghosts) are placated by commemorative honors[1]

Februarius, fully Mensis Februarius ("month of Februa"), was the shortest month of the Roman calendar from which the Julian and Gregorian month of February derived. It was eventually placed second in order, preceded by Ianuarius ("month of Janus", January) and followed by Martius ("month of Mars", March). In the oldest Roman calendar, which the Romans believed to have been instituted by their legendary founder Romulus, March was the first month, and the calendar year had only ten months in all. Ianuarius and Februarius were supposed to have been added by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, originally at the end of the year. It is unclear when the Romans reset the course of the year so that January and February came first.[2]

Februarius was the only month in the pre-Julian calendar to have an even number of days, numbering 28.[3] This was mathematically necessary to permit the year itself to have an odd number of days.[4] Ancient sources derived Februarius from februum, a thing used for ritual purification. Most of the observances in this month concerned the dead or closure, reflecting the month's original position at the end of the year. The Parentalia was a nine-day festival honoring the ancestors and propitiating the dead, while the Terminalia was a set of rituals pertaining to boundary stones that was probably also felt to reinforce the boundary of the year.[5]

  1. ^ This image preserves only the hexameter line of the Latin distich, which reads in full: umbrarum est alter, quo mense putatur honore / pervia terra dato manibus esse vagis ("The second month is in honor of ghosts the 'shades'), when the earth is thought to be pervious to the wandering Manes"). A. E. Housman, "Disticha de Mensibus (Anth. Lat. Ries. 665, Poet. Lat. min. Baehr. I ppp. 210f.)," in The Classical Papers of A. E. Housman: 1915–1936, edited by J. Diggle and F. R. D. Goodyear (Cambridge University Press, 1972), vol. 3, p. 1187.
  2. ^ Forsythe, Gary (2012). Time in Roman Religion: One Thousand Years of Religious History. Routledge. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-415-52217-5.
  3. ^ Forsythe, Time in Roman Religion, p. 14.
  4. ^ Macrobius. Saturnalia, Vol. I.
  5. ^ Forsythe, Time in Roman Religion, pp. 14, 17.
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