February

the second month of the year. In the old Roman calendar it was the last month of the year. The name is derived from a Roman word, meaning to purify, February being the season of the year when people were held to purify themselves prior to the approaching religious festivities. It is allowed but twenty-eight days, with an additional day in leap year, or the year the number of which is divisible by four; save that, in the year completing a century, a day is not added unless the year be divisible by four hundred. The shortness of the month is due to the fact that two days were stolen from it to lengthen the months of July and August, named in honor of the Roman emperors, Julius and Augustus. Several days of February are especially noted. The second is Candlemas Day, one of the quarter days in which rents are due in Scotland; the fourteenth is St. Valentine's Day. Locally in the United States, the second of February is called Groundhog or Woodchuck Day. The saying goes that on this day the woodchuck comes up and looks about him. If he can see his shadow, that is, if the day is bright and clear, he goes back to his burrow for six weeks. At the end of this period, spring may be expected.