By Vicky Kapur

“This February cannot come in your lifetime again. Because this year February has 4 Sundays, 4 Mondays, 4 Tuesdays, 4 Wednesdays, 4 Thursdays, 4 Fridays and 4 Saturdays. This happens once every 823 years. This is called money bags.”

This message that we received last week through a WhatsApp forward caught our attention – and got us a little ticklish.

First, let’s get the facts right: 2016 is a leap year, and February has 29 days, which means that one day will repeat 5 times. In this case, it’s Monday – there are 5 Mondays in February 2016 (and not four as claimed in the ‘viral’ message).

And even if this wasn’t a leap year (it is), February would still have 28 days in it, meaning exactly 4 weeks. Which means that, leap year or no leap year, there is no way any February won’t have 4 Sundays, 4 Mondays, 4 Tuesdays… you get the drift, right?

Calendar for February 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

In fact, what we did realise was that the month that just ended – January 2016 – was special, but not once-in-823-years special.

The month of January had five weekends – it had 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays.

Calendar for January 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Sadly, though, there is nothing spectacularly unusual about that. And you certainly won’t have to wait another 823 years for the next time this happens.

July 2016 will boast of the same phenomenon of 5 weekends – 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays.

Calendar for July 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

The next time a January has the same feat will be just six years later – January 2021 will also have 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and 5 Sundays.

In fact, get this – the first three weekdays of any 31-day month are repeated 5 times within that month. So, any month that has 31 days and begins on a Friday will have 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and 5 Sundays.

Similarly, any 31-day month that begins on a Tuesday, will have 5 Tuesdays, 5 Wednesdays and 5 Thursdays.

And every January and July in a leap year, and every January and October in a non-leap year – will have exactly the same date-day combination. It isn’t rocket science.

So, that message you got through e-mail or social media... WhatsApp, Facebook, whatever... is a hoax. No wonder it ended with: “Send to at least 5 people or 5 groups and money will arrive within 4 days.”

Yeah, right.

But trust us, this is not a hoax: ‘Like’ this article and tweet it to your followers from the links below – they will appreciate it!

(Image via Shutterstock)

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