Jake Sconyers

Thirty days hath September … Except when it doesn’t

We all know the old mnemonic device: thirty days hath September, April, June, and November, but what if September suddenly had only nineteen days? That’s exactly what Boston experienced in 1752, when the town went to bed on September 2nd and woke up on the 14th. It sounds like something that would have a supernatural explanation, like a mass alien abduction, or maybe something contaminated the water supply to make the entire town go into a brief coma, but the real explanation is more pedestrian. Almost two centuries after most of Europe switched to a new calendar system, the British Empire was following suit, including overseas colonies like Massachusetts. How did Bostonians adapt to the change? Were they as confused as I would be if my calendar suddenly changed? Is there any truth to the rumor that Bostonians rioted, demanding their 11 days back? How did the generation that lived through the change remember key dates like their birthdays after the switch?