Palindrome Day, The symmetrical sequence of numbers, yeah if you don’t have any plans today, you can take a little time – and enjoy something extraordinary. The day is a calendar palindrome. Many of our ancestors were never allowed to experience anything like this.
The second Friday in February is palindrome day. That means: You can rotate the date horizontally as you want – the sequence of numbers always reads the same: 02/12/2021.
Last palindrome day also in February
The youngest was only one year ago: 02/02/2020. Anyone who is 20 years old today has already seen six of these calendar beauties. Generations before that could only dream of such abundance. If you had asked someone about the next palindrome day in the late Middle Ages, you would probably have only received questioning looks.
Because only the new millennium brought several such revolutions in this country with 02/10/2001, before that, there was a break of more than 808 years: the last time there was such a number holiday was during Richard the Lionheart’s lifetime in 1192. In general, palindrome days in today’s eight-digit date format were only possible in the 11th and 12th centuries.
American Format: fewer palindromes in the 21st century
This Friday is particular thanks to the notation according to the format “day-month-year” that is customary in Germany and many other countries. Numbers fans from the USA, for example, first look down the pipe: First, the month is mentioned, then the day. Palindrome Day is only on December 2nd (02/12/2021). The decision in favour of different format. It gives Americans fewer palindromes overall in the 21st century (12) than with the form customary in this country (29).
Particularly rare “Universal Palindrome Tag.”
The most recent and particularly rare “Universal Palindrome Day” valid for both formats was 02/02/2020. Before that, the last thing was on November 11th, 2011, and the next one won’t come until December 12th, 2121. The day was celebrated with great cheers on social media.
If you are looking for a good photo opportunity this time, you should watch out for another palindrome at a precise time: at 1:22:10 or 12:00:21. And if you overslept, you have to wait a good year: 02/22/2022 is Palindrome Day again. After that, the gap is already more extensive, and the following one will come on February 3rd, 2030.