Why October is Not the 8th Month + Random Historical Facts

Since we are now well into October, I thought it would be cool to examine a few funky facts about the Octo (meaning "eight") month. Like just why is October the 10th month and not the 8th (Octo) month?

The ancient Romans did place October as their eighth month, after July and August (named for Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar, respectively).

- September from 7th

- October from 8th

- November from 9th

- December from 10th

But in 1582, the Gregorian calendar came into force, which added two months to the old 10-month Roman calendar, and thus, all months got bumped up two spots. The Roman calendar originally looked like this:

Calendar of Romulus

• Piece of Old Roman Calendar: Museo Nazionale Romano Martius (31 days)

• Aprilis (30 days)

• Maius (31 days)

• Lunius (30 days)

• Quintilis (31 days)

• Sextilis (30 days)

• September (30 days)

• October(31 days)

• November (30 days)

• December (30 days)

While the Gregorian Calendar looks like this:

Pope Gregory XIII initiated the Gregorian Calendar in 1582.No.    Name     Days 

1      January  31 
2      February 28 or 29 
3      March     31 
4      April        30 
5      May        31 
6      June       30 
7      July        31 
8      August   31 
9     September  30 
10   October  31 
11   November  30 
12   December  31 

On a random note, check out some of these fun, historical facts that all took place in the month of October.

• Free rural delivery of mail began in the United States, October 1, 1896.

• The first Model T Ford was offered for sale on October 1, 1908.

• The US White House cornerstone was laid on October 13, 1792.

• The American poet, E. E. Cummings was born October 14, 1894.

• Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, was born October 15, 1844.

• Irish-born writer/poet/dramatist, Oscar Wilde, was born October 16, 1854.

• Thomas Edison began the first successful demonstration of his electric light on October 19, 1879.

• S.O.S. was established as an international distress signal on October 3, 1906.

• East and West Germany re-united and became one country on October 3, 1990.

• Orville Wright became the first to fly an aircraft for over 33 minutes on October 4, 1905.

• Photographic film patented on October 14, 1884.

• Winnie-the-Pooh was first published. Written by A.A. Milne (1882-1956) on October 14, 1926.

Comments

[Cassie]

I had to share this with my little sister, cause her 10th birthday is this month :) This is really super interesting! I have always wondered about 'Octo'ber. xo

[Tiger]

Yeah, that was really interesting!

here's an apple for ya, Mrs. J-boo!

[Tina]

Thanks for the great info Jinxi Boo. I always enjoy your random and fun fact blogs.

[Chana]

Very interesting...so basicall what I have gotten out of the information more than anything, is that before 1582, everyone celebrated a birthday every 304 days! Correct me if Im wrong, but damn! It actually makes me feel a little better though, instead of turning 30 in December, I could actually be on my way to 36! LOL

[.dita.]

Wow, I had no idea. But it all makes sense. Thanks for posting.