Today is George Washington\u2019s birthday \u2014 well, one of them, anyway. I think we\u2019ve touched on this before, but poor George has really had his birthday jerked around\u2026. actually, for 47 of his 67 years, George Washington had two birthdays every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
George was born on February 11th, 1732. Hold on\u2026. in 1732, the Julian calendar (named for Julius Caesar) was in use in Great Britain, and in the US because we were colonies of Great Britain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in 1752, when George was 20, Great Britain adopted the new, improved calendar instituted by Pope Gregory the 13th and of course imposed it on its colonies, including the US. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The switch in calendars was made because the old calendar had become out of whack relative to the sun\u2019s and earth\u2019s cycles by many days. By 1752, it was off by eleven whole days. So those eleven days were simply dropped that year. The following February 1st was not February 2nd \u2014 it was February 11th. So George Washington\u2019s birthday jumped all the way to February 22nd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The calendar change didn\u2019t sit well with a lot of colonial communities and many refused to go along with it, but George apparently took the change in stride and, from 1752 on, accepted February 22nd as his birthday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, give George credit \u2014 he took advantage of the situation to sometimes celebrate both days as his birthday. In 1799 he attended a gala birthday party in his honor in Alexandria, Virginia on February 11th. He wrote in his diary that night that he \u201cwent up to Alexandria for the celebration of my birthday.\u201d Eleven days later, on February 22nd, 1799 he celebrated his second birthday of that year \u2014 which, sadly, turned out to be the last of his life. He died ten months later, on the evening of December 14, 1799.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s interesting that George Washington, our first President, had two real<\/em> birthdays and we don\u2019t celebrate either one of them. The best we can do is celebrate President\u2019s Day on the 3rd Monday in February. Doesn\u2019t seem fair\u2026. but Happy Birthday George!! Today is George Washington\u2019s birthday \u2014 well, one of them, anyway. I think we\u2019ve touched on this before, but poor George has really had his birthday jerked around\u2026. actually, for 47 of his 67 years, George Washington had two birthdays … Continue reading
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