Birthdays in Intercalary months
Topics of discussion in my book seemed to me to obviously raise a question, but the author seems not to have agreed, cause he doesn't directly address it.
The Romans were pretty big on birthday celebrations. During the Julian calendar reform, people were very concerned about making sure they figured out when their birthday really was in the new calendar.
But the pre-Julian calendar had month intercalation. That is, some years would have an extra month inserted between February and March (in the Julian reforms, the standard year length was increased to the point where only one day had to be added between February and March, more or less the familiar situation).
So, what did Romans born during an intercalary month do to celebrate their birthdays? (Or, more accurately, due to the oddities of the Roman calendar, what did people who were born in the time bewtween the Ides of February and the Ides of Intercalaris do).
What about other people who use or used calendars with intercalary months, notably including lunisolar calendars such as the Chinese, Hebrew, or Iranian calendars. I don't know how much attention is given to birthdays (specifically birth anniversaries*) in those calendars. People using the Chinese calendar do seem to pay at least some attention to birthdays, based on a couple pieces of evidence.
Does anybody know anything?
*Ancient Greeks paid some attention to birthdays, but not as anniversaries, not yearly birthdays. Instead, they tracked and had minor celebrations every month, on the day of the month they were born on. For example, the 10th of every month.
The Romans were pretty big on birthday celebrations. During the Julian calendar reform, people were very concerned about making sure they figured out when their birthday really was in the new calendar.
But the pre-Julian calendar had month intercalation. That is, some years would have an extra month inserted between February and March (in the Julian reforms, the standard year length was increased to the point where only one day had to be added between February and March, more or less the familiar situation).
So, what did Romans born during an intercalary month do to celebrate their birthdays? (Or, more accurately, due to the oddities of the Roman calendar, what did people who were born in the time bewtween the Ides of February and the Ides of Intercalaris do).
What about other people who use or used calendars with intercalary months, notably including lunisolar calendars such as the Chinese, Hebrew, or Iranian calendars. I don't know how much attention is given to birthdays (specifically birth anniversaries*) in those calendars. People using the Chinese calendar do seem to pay at least some attention to birthdays, based on a couple pieces of evidence.
Does anybody know anything?
*Ancient Greeks paid some attention to birthdays, but not as anniversaries, not yearly birthdays. Instead, they tracked and had minor celebrations every month, on the day of the month they were born on. For example, the 10th of every month.