October (Roman month) October (Roman month) October (from Latin "octo", "eight") or mensis October was the eighth of ten months on the oldest Roman calendar. It had 31 days. October followed September (from "septem", "seven") and preceded November ("novem", "nine"). After the calendar reform that resulted in a 12-month year, October became the tenth month, but retained its numerical name, as did the other months from September through December. Some of the observances in October marked the close of the season for military campaigning and farming, which commenced in March ("Martius", "Mars' month"). October was under the guardianship "(tutela)" of Mars. The Romans
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar 12 days, only 11 were skipped, and the day of the week was repeated on successive days, because at the same time the International Date Line was moved, from following Alaska's eastern border with Canada to following its new western border, now with Russia. Many of the countries of eastern Europe were Eastern Orthodox or Islamic and adopted the Gregorian calendar much later than western Christian countries. Roman Catholic countries such as the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth adopted the "new style" (N.S.) Gregorian calendar in 1582 (switched back in 1795 after Third Partition of Poland), but the switch to the Gregorian calendar