Who invented months?

 

I understand a day.  That’s one rotation of the earth relative to the sun.  (Although at the time it was first described, it was probably thought to be one rotation of the sun around the earth.)

 

I think I understand years too.  One orbit of the earth around the sun. (…or in the old days, the sun completing its cycle of swinging from center to its farthest point north in the sky, south in the sky, and back to center point.)  Whatever, they got that right too.

 

But what is a month?  It’s kind of a lunar cycle, one orbit of the moon around the earth, but not really.  So I’m back to my question: what is a month and how long should it be?  I can understand a month being 1/12th of a year to approximate the lunar cycle (which does not divide evenly into 365 days).  I can understand having to alternate one day longer or one day shorter each month to make it all come out (about) right at the end of each year.  But why alternate between 30 and 31 days in a month, then make a big catchup with a month that only has 28 days?  Does the month of February really need to be three days shorter than January or March?  Why not just have 7 months that are 30 days long and 5 months that are 31 days long?

 

30 days hath February and March, May and June, August and September, and November.  Whatever the names of the others, they have 31 and we’re done.  (Except for leap year because there aren’t really exactly 365 days in a year.)  (Because the time it takes for the earth to rotate about its axis isn’t really related to how long it takes for it to orbit around the sun.)

 

  Pure poetry.