This second month in our year comes from the Roman republican calendar month Februarius, named for Februa, the festival of purification held on the 15th. Some feel that it is, thus, named after the flu!
12th: Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1809. For background on his assassination and other intrigue, see our article The Trail of Blood in Personal UPDATE 2/95, pp.4-8.
14th: Valentine's Day. The ultimate valentine, however, was written in blood, on a wooden cross erected in Judea almost 2,000 years ago.
15th: Festival of Purification on the Roman republican calendar. (Did you catch the flu this season?)
Also on the 15th, Jewish tradition holds this date in 519 b.c. as the occasion of Zechariah's vision of the Woman in the Ephah (Zechariah 5:5-15).
The ultimate return of the pagan priesthood (and commercial significance) of Rome to its original site in Babylon seems to be suggested, which might reconcile two contrasting views of Mystery Babylon in Revelation l7 and 18 with Isaiah 13-14 and Jeremiah 50 and 51. For more information, see this month's Briefing Package, The Kingdom of Blood, and The Mystery of Babylon, described in the center catalog.
22: George Washington's birthday in 1732. One of our nation's most beloved leaders, who was also home schooled! For a list of other famous home school graduates (including Abraham Lincoln), see our article Home Schooling from our August 1995 News Journal.
23: The Second Temple in Jerusalem was completed (Ezra 6:15).
27: On the 27th and 28th (Hebrew dates: 13th and 14th of Adar) the Jews still celebrate their defeat of Haman and their enemies in Persia, which took place in 473 b.c. (Esther 9:17).
On this date in 1933: The Nazis burned down the German Parliament (Reichstag) to inflame public opinion and yield dictatorial powers. Some compare it with the Oklahoma City Bombing.
Also on this date in 1991: Saddam Hussein's army was defeated in 100 hours by midnight on the 27th.
29: February 29th is an intercalary day added for Leap year. The astronomical year the time taken for the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun is about 365.242 days. To account for the odd quarter day, an extra calendar day is added every four years (since 46 b.c., when this was first done with the establishment of the Julian Calendar).
The Gregorian Calendar Reform
Over the centuries, however, the difference between the 0.25 day approximation and the more accurate 0.242 day accumulates and eventually becomes significant. In the Gregorian calendar reform of 1752, the discrepancy was adjusted by adding the extra day only to those century years exactly divisible by 400 (i.e., 1600, 2000, etc.). The year 2,000 will not be a leap year.
For even more precise reckoning, every year evenly divisible by 4,000 is also to be made a common (non-leap) year. For other eschatological reasons, we don't expect this to be necessary, however.
In the year 1752, there were already 11 days too many, so September 3 was declared September 14, and the new rules adopted.
