→Subscribe for new videos every day! https://www.youtube.com/user/TodayIFoundOut?sub_confirmation=1 →How "Dick" came to be short for 'Richard': https://youtu.be/BH1NAwwKtcg?list=PLR0XuDegDqP2Acy6g9Ta7hzC0Rr3RDS6q Never run out of things to say at the water cooler with TodayIFoundOut! Brand new videos 7 days a week! More from TodayIFoundOut Why We Say "O'Clock" https://youtu.be/2YKrILmZz7E?list=PLR0XuDegDqP0GESJ0DgpgTcThLJVEbFs8 Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? https://youtu.be/CiOZ2rQWfc4?list=PLR0XuDegDqP0GESJ0DgpgTcThLJVEbFs8 In this video: Since long before Caesar’s time, date keeping was dicey. In fact, the 355-day Roman calendar that immediately preceded Caesar’s Julian, worked on a four year cycle where every other year, an additional month was inserted between February (Februarius), the last month of that calendar year, and March (Martius), the first month of the year; this was done in order to catch the calendar up with the Earth’s orbit of the Sun. That additional month, called the Mensis intercalaris, brought in the missing 22 or 23 days, and to even things up, took another five days from February in the years it was present. Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/01/west-new-year-begin-january-1/ Sources: http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/5-ancient-new-years-celebrations http://books.google.com/books?id=gR09AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=mensis+intercalaris&source=bl&ots=KEvnVcJ5cU&sig=9AfeiiJMj4qdQ2XGnyeN6m2N14E&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YwrpUobNMNLKsQTrh4LgBw&ved=0CGAQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=mensis%20intercalaris&f=false http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/12/having-a-ball-the-history-behind-american-new-years-eve-celebrations.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calendars#Roman_calendar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/new-years-day http://books.google.com/books?id=xRTuAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA92