The Days In History That Got Vanished: Here's Why We Lost 10 Days In October 1582

Calendars give us exact days and dates, or at least what we think is exact, but a recent discovery by people on the internet has revealed that October in the year 1582 had 10 fewer days than usual. The internet is shocked to learn this, here's the reason why it happened.

October in the year 1582 had 10 days less

No 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13 & 14 pic.twitter.com/TtLI8CuaUk

¡ª Tha Real Bello (@ThaRealBello) November 15, 2022

A host of tweets have popped up when people discovered that October 1582 had 10 fewer days than the usual 31 days. If you scroll all the way back to 1582 in your phone's calendar, you will notice that October in that year was unusually short; in fact, it had 10 fewer days than other months.

The calendar jumps from October 4 directly to October 15, missing the 10 days from October 5 to October 14. When you open the calendar for 1582, the month of October appears to be normal, but when you click on October to expand the dates, the glitch becomes obvious.

It's bizarre to think about why it happened, but there is a solid and valid reason behind it. Many people took to Twitter to express their displeasure with the discrepancy. A lady wrote, "Can somebody explain October in the year 1582? time is not real."

can somebody explain october in the year 1582? time is not real. pic.twitter.com/coKtv86fwT

¡ª ???? (@jjasshole) November 14, 2022

Another lady called it "weird as hell" and wrote, "This Shit Is Weird As Hell¡­ Nov 1st Starts Monday But Oct 31 Ends On Wednesday. But Looking At The 12 Months, Oct Has 31 Days Until You Tap On The Month Then Some Days Disappear¡­ Wtfffffffff¡­.."

This Shit Is Weird As Hell¡­ Nov 1st Starts Monday But Oct 31 Ends On Wednesday. But Looking At The 12 Months, Oct Has 31 Days Until You Tap On The Month Then Some Days Disappear¡­ Wtfffffffff¡­.. pic.twitter.com/wlDj1zUnYc

¡ª Mrs. H?? (@breelvee_) November 15, 2022

10 days were cut short from October to match Earth's orbit

By 1582, the Julian calendar, with a Leap Day every four years, had accumulated TEN extra days relative to Earth¡¯s orbit. So Pope Gregory jump-started his new and exquisitely accurate calendar by canceling 10 days that year, in which October 4 was followed by October 15.

¡ª Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) February 29, 2020

American astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson explained the reason behind the mystery in a tweet.

He wrote, "By 1582, the Julian calendar, with a Leap Day every four years, had accumulated TEN extra days relative to Earth¡¯s orbit. So Pope Gregory jump-started his new and exquisitely accurate calendar by canceling 10 days that year, in which October 4 was followed by October 15." The logic behind the jump seems legit, but the question comes, why October and why not any other month?

Why was October chosen for the cut?

What happened the second week of October in 1582 that y¡¯all wanted so desperately to be erased from history, y¡¯all snatched it out the calendar? ??? pic.twitter.com/wTzt1oAOGB

¡ª AroostookGrizz ? (@AroostookG) November 27, 2022

The issue was brought forth because of the increasing difficulty of calculating the date of Easter. According to Britannica, in the years 1562¨C63, the Council of Trent decided to pass a decree calling for the pope to fix the problem by implementing a reformed calendar.

But it took another two decades to find a suitable fix and put it into place. That's when Pope Gregory XIII signed a papal bull in February 1582 promulgating the reformed calendar that came to be known as the Gregorian calendar; 10 days were dropped from the calendar to bring the vernal equinox from March 11 back to March 21.

The church had chosen October to avoid skipping any major Christian festivals.

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