Spooky season is upon us, and there is no better time for my first blog post and no better subject than this beloved month. So, in the pursuit of the truth, here we go…
Undoubtedly, in your life, you’ve pondered why October, which begins with the prefix “octo-“, is actually the 10th month. And without fail, we’ve been told the story of the greedy Julius Cesear who decided to create 2 new months (July and August) to honor of himself and his nephew. While that definitely sounds true, I’m here to finally dispell this myth and clear Cesear’s name… kinda.
The real reason that October (along with September, November, and December) is so out of place is that the Roman calendar, which was reformed to make our modern Gregorian calendar, previously only had ten months, beginning in March and ending in December. Doesn’t that make sense? The Romans began their year in the spring, during the time of rebirth. Admittedly, Julius did rename Quintilis and Sextilis, however, that didn’t affect the placement of the months. It was actually Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, who, circa 700 BC, added Januarius and Februarius. He was the culprit of the name disparity.