I was curious about the Ides of February, did a google search, and found this old-school page (updated in 1996; written in old-school, deprecated html version 1.half-assed) -- didn't want it to fade to oblivion, so here we are. I rescued it and put it on my ultimate-factotum server.

February 15 is not the Ides of February!

Everyone knows that March 15 is the Ides of March, but most people don't know that the Ides only falls on the 15th of the month one-third of the time. The Ides was one of three dates each month by which the Roman calendar was calculated. They fell on the following days:

The Kalends

March 1, April 1, May 1, June 1, July 1, August 1, September 1, October 1, November 1, December 1, January 1, February 1

The Nones

March 7, April 5, May 7, June 5, July 7, August 5, September 5, October 7, November 5, December 5, January 5, February 5

The Ides

March 15, April 13, May 15, June 13, July 15, August 13, September 13, October 15, November 13, December 13, January 13, February 13

How to remember it

Everything can be summarized in three simple rules, one of which has a poem associated with it.

• The Kalends always falls on the first of the month
• The Nones falls on the fifth, except as described by the following poem:
  March, July, October, May
  The Nones are on the seventh day
• The Ides falls 8 days after the Nones.

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