Why didn’t any of the scientists think against the superstition of Numa Pompilius? It’s something I keep wondering about after I googled, like why does February have 28 or 29 days? Now here is what I found. The word 'February' comes from the Latin word Februarius, which means 'of Februa.' Februa was a Roman festival of purification that took place around the full moon in February. Before the Julian calendar and before the Gregorian calendar, the Romans had a completely different mess on their hands. Their calendar had only ten months, with six months of 30 days and four of 31, making a grand total of 304 days. But the Romans had a deep-rooted fear of even numbers, considering them unlucky. Then came Numa Pompilius, Rome’s second king, ready to fix this chaos without stepping on any superstitions. So what did he do? He cut all 30-day months down to 29, leaving 56 extra days. To balance things out, he created January and February, bringing the count to twe...