Tomorrow the federal holiday is George Washington’s Birthday. (See Three-day weekend for the background.)
Most know that Washington’s actual birthday is February 22. But, in fact, Washington was not born on that date either.
So, our little one item quiz for today (and so you can dazzle your friends and co-workers this week):
If there had been a calendar on the wall when George Washington was born, what would have been the month, day and year?
I’ll confirm the answer once someone gets it correct. No fair Googling.
Okay, I didn’t answer this for a long time because it didn’t seem fair, since I wrote a biography of George Washington (and we were just at Mount Vernon). But I can hold back no more.
Washington was born February 11, 1732. His birthday, like all other dates, was moved up 11 days in 1752 when the country converted from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
Right?
February 11, 1731
1732 began in March. The beginning of the new year was changed to January in 1752 as well.
It was my understanding there would be no math.
Well this is not good news at all since for my entire life I could claim I shared George’s real birthday. Now all I have is Drew Barrymore.