The modern calendar is inherited in many ways from the Roman. The Roman New Year was celebrated in spring, the first month was March, named after the god Mars, who, according to old traditions, was responsible not for military valor, but for agriculture. The number of days in the months was different, the system was not quite convenient. Other peoples had different calendars - for example, the Aztecs had exactly 30 days in each month, and the remaining days were added at the end of the year as “extra”.
The modern system is more convenient, it divides the year into 12 months, each of which has 30-31 days, except February.
How many days are in a month according to the modern calendar?
The modern calendar divides the year into 12 months, while in January there are 31 days, and in the following February it can be 28 or 29 days. February with 29 days comes every 4 years. Further, in March there are 31 days, in April 30 days, and then the number of days alternates until the end of the year. As a result, in November it turns out 30 days, and in December - 31 days. There is a system for counting days in months by the bones of the fingers, where months with 31 days are on the knuckles, and with 30 days between them.
Why is there 7 days in a week?
The seven-day week was not always. Thousands of years ago, mankind was thinking about organizing a system of work and rest, inventing a week. The Romans had an eight-day week, in it 7 days were workers, and the last was a bazaar. The seven-day week is of Babylonian origin, where people began to measure their lives by the phases of the moon.The lunar cycle is 28 days, the first seven-day week goes to increase the luminosity to its first quarter, the second to the full moon, and then the moon is waning at the same pace.
The ancient people knew perfectly well about the presence of planets, they the Babylonians called the clock of the current day. Then the names of the planets and gods to which they were dedicated passed on to the name of the days of the week.
The English-language tradition led to the name of the days of the week the names of their own gods, from here there was some difference in names. After all, Mars in the ancient Celts and tribes close to them was replaced by Tiu, Mercury - Wotan, Jupiter - Thor, and so on. The local designations of the planets for the names of the days of the week are also used by Koreans, Indians, Mongols, and many other peoples. This is a widespread tradition.
Russian traditions
Once in Russia, Sunday was called the week, that is, the day when they do nothing. In Russian, the situation has changed, in other Slavic dialects, no. Monday is called the first day of the week, Tuesday is the second, and Wednesday is the average workday. In the USSR, they conducted their own experiments to create a working week, tried to introduce a 5-day non-fixed day off, which was practiced in the 1929-1930s. In 1931, they decided to switch to a 6-day week. But from June 26, 1940, the country returned to a seven-day period. Practice has shown that just such an approach is optimal, providing the perfect balance of work and rest.
With such a week, a person can form a decent salary, having received enough time for work and rest.At the moment, experiments in this area are stopped, and almost the whole world lives on a seven-day day. There is also a formal division of the year into 12 months - and to calculate which of them is how many days, a simple system on the bones of the fingers helps.
Thus, in the modern month there are 30 or 31 days, except February, and in the week - 7 days. It was such a system that became generally accepted, because it turned out to be the most convenient and practical. In the near future no changes are expected in this area.
