February, the red-headed stepchild of the Julian Calendar is named after an ancient Roman ritual of purification. Before becoming the second month of the calendar, February was actually the last month.
February is unique in that every four years an extra day is added to the month. This added day is to compensate for a calendar drift that can occur due to numeric calendars not coinciding with lunar and astronomical events. A year with a February of 28 days is called a common year while a “leap year”, occurs every four years. A holiday that falls on a Wednesday in a common year would fall on a Friday in a leap year, essentially leaping over one day to land on the leap year affected day.
In the past, some cultures would add an entire intercalendary month to the calendar to make up for calendar drift.
2015 is a common year with 28 days in February which means those that were born on the 29th will find themselves without a birthday until 2016.
