Our calendar is called the Gregorian calendar. It is what we use almost everywhere in the world. It helps us keep track of days, months, and years.
What Is the Gregorian Calendar?
A normal year has 365 days; a leap year has 366 days.
Months with 30 days: April, June, September, November.
Most months have 31 days.
February has 28 days normally, 29 on a leap year.
The Gregorian calendar is used around the world because it keeps our dates and seasons in good order.
A Little Bit of History
Long ago, people used the Roman calendar. They watched the moon to decide the days.
The Roman calendar started with 10 months and about 304 days. The winter days were not well organized.
Later, the Roman Republic made some changes by following Greek ideas. They tried to match the calendar with the seasons by adding extra days at certain times.
Julian Calendar: A Big Change
In 46 BC, Julius Caesar changed the calendar.
He made a year 365 days long and added an extra day every four years.
This calendar was much better for matching the days with the seasons, but it still wasn’t perfect.
Pope Gregory and the New Changes
The Julian calendar had a tiny error every year. Over many years, this error made the dates for seasons like spring and summer get mixed up.
By 1582, the error was about 10 days!
Pope Gregory XIII fixed this by skipping 10 days. After October 4, 1582, the next day was October 15, 1582.
He also changed the rule for century years. Now, a year like 1900 is not a leap year unless it can be divided by 400 (so 2000 was a leap year).
In Conclusion
The Gregorian calendar is the system most of us use every day. It started from old Roman ideas, was changed by Julius Caesar, and finally improved by Pope Gregory XIII. These changes help us know which day is which season. This makes it easier for everyone to plan their lives and celebrate the seasons.
