Forced to designate one unlucky month with an even day count, Numa chose the final month of the archaic Roman year: February. The word stems from februum, an archaic Latin term for spiritual purification or instrument of cleansing.
February was already dedicated to rituals honoring the dead and appeasing chthonic spirits. During the festival of Februa and the subsequent Parentalia, citizens performed rites to cleanse the city of moral pollution and honor deceased ancestors. Because the month was already cloaked in somber reflection, solemn ceremonies, and underworld deities, assigning it the mathematically unavoidable, spiritually cursed count of 28 days made cultural sense. The Romans isolated their arithmetic bad luck in the month already devoted to mourning.
