In my ongoing quest to learn stuff, today I'm going to find out where the month of February got its name from.  Last month I learned all about the Roman god Janus.  So is February also going to be named after a Roman god?  Give me a minute while I go do some quick online research and find out.  

Okay, I'm back and I've learned some exciting stuff.  While there is a Roman god named Februus, the month isn't named after him.  In fact, the god and the month are named after the same thing.  There was a Roman purification festival called Februa in which people were ritually washed.  I'm not getting like super in-depth with my research here, and although I'm slightly curious, the article I found doesn't explain what all was involved with this ritual washing.  

I know Romans were famous for having bathhouses, but it kind of seems like overall bathing wasn't anywhere near as common of a thing in past times as it is now, which is why if you ever had a time machine you probably really wouldn't want to travel to the past.  I bet it smelled horrible. And that's just the people themselves, never mind that most of human history didn't have modern sewage treatments.  A ritual washing may have been one of the few times some people back then ever got cleaned.  Sounds like that's worth naming a month after to me!