With the excitement of National Noodle month behind us, we leap forward to April, the first month of the year with 30 days. Why, you may wonder, do the months vary as they do in their number of days? Thankfully, for the space I have to fill here, the answer is not a simple one. The Roman calendar originally had 10 months of varying lengths starting in March and ending in December. Winter, which now includes January and February, didn’t have months back then. That wreaked havoc on collecting bills for cable TV, so in 713 BC, King Pompilius added January and February and the latter had varying numbers of days. When Julius Caesar instituted the cleverly named Julian calendar, he decreed months would alternate between 30 and 31 days. Making the 4th (April), 6th (June), 9th (September) and 11th (November) months be alternating is probably something only an emperor could understand (or get away with). By the way, April originally had 29 days and only got its thirtieth day with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582.
April is best known for its showers, its fools, and its taxes, not necessarily in order of significance. It’s also the month that major league baseball gets into full swing (har!) and the NBA and NHL begin plodding through their interminable playoffs. Bingo anyone?
April is also the time of year when the thoughts of about 90% of nature turn to “love” or whatever you want to call it. Chirping, strutting, nest building, and singles ads all peak this month. You have to wonder why they didn’t put Valentine’s Day in April. But I digress.
April is also a popular month for lunar religious observations. Christians celebrate Easter on April 17 (Sunday after the first full moon after March 21), Muslims begin Ramadan on April 1 (1st day of the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar) and Jews celebrate Passover from April 15-23. Because the 29 day lunar cycle does not divide 365 day years evenly, dates of lunar holidays vary from year to year.
Last (finally), let’s not overlook that April provides us with other celebrations, such as National Pooper Scooper Week (first week), National Animal Control Officer Appreciation Week (second week), National Coin Week (third week), and National Princess Week (fourth week). And with that, April is a wrap.
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