Landscapes Portraying February. February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendar with 28 days in common years and 29 days in leap years, with the quadrennial 29th day being called the leap day. It is the first of five months to have fewer than 31 days and the only of these to have a length of fewer than 30 days. The other seven months have 31 days. In 2019, February had 28 days. February is the third and last month of meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, February is the third and last month of summer. February is pronounced either as-yoo-err-ee or-roo-err-ee. Many people drop the first r, replacing it with, as if it were spelled Febuary. This comes about by analogy with January, as well as by a dissimilation effect whereby having two rs close to each other causes one to change for ease of pronunciation. The Roman month Februarius was named after the Latin term februum, which means purification, via the purification ritual Februa held on February 15 in the old lunar Roman calendar. January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter a monthless period. They were added by Numa Pompilius about 713 BC. February remained the last month of the calendar year until the time of the decemvirs, when it became the second month. At certain intervals February was truncated to 23 or 24 days, and a 27-day intercalary month, Intercalaris, was inserted immediately after February to realign the year with the seasons. February observances in Ancient Rome include Amburbium, Sementivae, Februa, Lupercalia, Parentalia, Quirinalia, Feralia, Caristia, Terminalia, Regifugium, and Agonium Martiale. These days do not correspond to the modern Gregorian calendar. Under the reforms that instituted the Julian calendar, Intercalaris was abolished, leap years occurred regularly every fourth year, and in leap years February gained a 29th day. Thereafter, it remained the second month of the calendar year, meaning the order that months are displayed within a year-at-a-glance calendar. Even during the Middle Ages, when the numbered Anno Domini year began on March 25 or December 25, the second month was February whenever all twelve months were displayed in order. The Gregorian calendar reforms made slight changes to the system for determining which years were leap years and thus contained a 29-day February. Historical names for February include the Old English terms Solmonath and Kale-monath as well as Charlemagne's designation Hornung. In Finnish, the month is called helmikuu, meaning month of the pearl; when snow melts on tree branches, it forms droplets, and as these freeze again, they are like pearls of ice. In Macedonian the month is sechko, meaning month of cutting. In Czech, it is called únor, meaning month of submerging. In 1848, a proposal was put forward in Kmetijske in rokodelske novice by the Slovene Society of Ljubljana to call this month talnik, but it did not stick. Another name of February in Slovene was vesnar, after the mythological character Vesna. Having only 28 days in common years, February is the only month of the year that can pass without a single full moon. Using Coordinated Universal Time as the basis for determining the date and time of a full moon, this last happened in 2018 and will next happen in 2037. The same is true regarding a new moon: again using Coordinated Universal Time as the basis, this last happened in 2014 and will next happen in 2033. February is also the only month of the calendar that, once every six years and twice every 11 years consecutively, either back into the past or forward into the future, has four full 7-day weeks. In countries that start their week on a Monday, it occurs as part of a common year starting on Friday, in which February 1st is a Monday and the 28th is a Sunday; this occurred in 1965, 1971, 1982, 1993, 1999 and 2010, and occur will again in 2021. In countries that start their week on a Sunday, it occurs in a common year starting on Thursday, with the next occurrence in 2026, and previous occurrences in 1987, 1998, 2009 and 2015.