October 1582: The Month That Lost 10 Days to a Calendar Reform; Watch Viral Video

A viral video posted by an Instagram user named Real Truth has sparked widespread curiosity and debate by claiming that October in the year 1582 had 10 fewer days than usual. The video encourages internet users to check their computer or smartphone calendars for October 1582, revealing a startling anomaly: the dates jump directly from October 4 to October 15.

The caption accompanying the video reads, “Today’s Date Is Wrong,” suggesting a deeper mystery behind the missing days. The video itself displays the calendar for October 1582, where the dates from October 5 to October 14 are conspicuously absent, leaving viewers puzzled and prompting numerous questions.

One intrigued user commented, “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?” Another user provided a historical explanation, writing, “To align the calendar with the solar year more accurately, 10 days were removed in October 1582.”

A third commenter humorously suggested, “Calendar glitch hai,” while others continued to speculate about the reasons behind this peculiar event.

The mystery, however, is grounded in historical fact. Renowned American astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson addressed this topic in a tweet four years ago. He explained, “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 cancelling 10 days that year, in which October 4 was followed by October 15.”

This adjustment was part of the Gregorian calendar reform initiated by Pope Gregory XIII to correct the inaccuracies of the Julian calendar, which had caused the calendar year to drift out of sync with the solar year. The reform aimed to realign the calendar with the seasons, ensuring that important dates, such as the spring equinox and Easter, occurred at the correct times of the year.

The Gregorian calendar, introduced on October 15, 1582, omitted 10 days to rectify the discrepancy, effectively making October 5 to October 14 disappear from the calendar. This change was initially adopted by Catholic countries like Italy, Spain, and Portugal, while Protestant and Orthodox countries gradually followed suit over the following centuries.

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