Mental Floss

CALENDARS













Bychykhin_Olexandr/iStock via Getty Images

Happy leap year! You can thank Julius Caesar and his buddies for bringing them to Europe more than 2000 years ago.

Ellen Gutoskey


IRINA KROLEVETC/iStock via Getty Images

We’ve been adding an extra day to February since Julius Caesar overhauled the Roman calendar and implemented leap years in 46 BCE.

Mark Mancini


iStock

Today, people around the globe will feel uneasy about getting out of bed, leaving their homes, or going about their normal daily routines, all because of a superstition.

Sean Hutchinson








ThinkStock/Erin McCarthy

Due to unusual record-keeping practices or because of months that were eliminated over the centuries, there are a few days you’ll never see on your joke-a-day calendar.

M Asher Cantrell