Anna: Facts About October

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The twelve month solar calendar, as we know it today has undergone many changes before evolving to its current precision. The calendar accurately matches the seasons, with a deviation of only one day in 20,000 years

The calendar followed by most countries in the world is the Gregorian calendar. It divided the year into 12 months and has 365 and a quarter days. The Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XII in 1582. It is rooted in the Roman calendar presumed to have been started by Romulus, founder of Rome, in 738 BCE. This was a lunar calendar. In 46 BCE Julius Caesar on the advice of the astronomer, Sosigenes redesigned the calendar based on the Egyptian solar calendar. His calendar was called the Julian calendar.

FACT 1: The month of October is the 10th month of the Gregorian calendar. It has 31 days and corresponds with autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere.

FACT 2: The name October comes from the Latin ‘octo’ meaning eight. In the earliest calendar, the Roman calendar, the year had only 10 months. The first month was March, making October the eight month.

FACT 3: King Numa Pompilius added the months of January and February in 700 BCE. After a few centuries of rearrangement of the order of the months, October shifted to the 10th month, but its name remained unchanged.

FACT 4: October always starts on the same day as January, except on a Leap Year. It ends on the same day as January and February, every common (not leap) year.

FACT 5: In a leap year the starting day of October does not correspond with the starting day of any other month.

FACT 6: The flower of the month of October is the calendula. The birth stone is the opal. It is said that an opal worn by a person, not born in the month of October, will crack.

FACT 7: In the history of the modern world the month of October has especial significance. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia issued the October Manifesto in 1905, to stem the tide of unrest threatening to overthrow the monarchy. By this Manifesto, the Tsar granted the people fundamental freedoms and establishes franchise and a legislative body. Thus constitutional monarchy was ushered in, displacing the unlimited autocracy of the Tsar.

FACT 8: The Soviet Era was ushered in after the Bolshevik Party seized power after the October Revolution. The revolution is dated October 24 to 25. On 14th Feb 1918, Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar, also called the New Style Calendar. This actually makes the historic October Revolution, a November revolution, the New Style dates being November 6-7.

FACT 9: The fourth Arab Israeli War is called the October War. It is also called the Yom Kippur War and the Ramadan War. The name October War corresponds to the Gregorian calendar. None of the Arab counties involved follow the Gregorian calendar. They follow the lunar, Islamic calendar. The war corresponded to the month of Ramadan that fell in October that year. In 2016 Ramadan will commence in June and end in July. In 1973, the Israeli Day of Atonement, of Yom Kippur also fell in October. Yom Kippur will occur in September in 2016 as the Hebrew calendar is lunisolar.

FACT 10: The Oktoberfest is a German beer festival held over a two week period ending in the first Sunday of October. This very popular festival is celebrated in many parts of the United States and is gaining popularity in other parts of the world.

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