Leap Year History And Traditions

In discussing Leap Year history and traditions we need to first examine what exactly is a Leap Year and why we have it in the first place. As you might imagine, these years have an extra day in February, giving the calendar year 366 days instead of 365. But why? And how do we know which years will be Leap Years?

As Leap Year history goes, we expect these strange years to happen when the year is divisible by four. And, according to Farmer's Almanac, there are other rules that must be followed as well. Years that are divisible by 100 such as 1900 or 2000 will not be leap years unless they are also divisible by 400. So, although 1900 wasn't a leap year, 2000 was. Mind blown. I mean, who has the time to come up with these crazy rules? But, a good rule of thumb to remember is most of the time it occurs every four years.

Ok, let's look at the science behind a leap year. The earth makes a trip around the sun each year...or typically 365 days. And even though we rounded it to 365 days, accurately it's closer to 365.2421. And no matter how small that fraction is, it adds up over time. So, in order to keep the calendar on track we need some place to put that extra day. It lands as you know on February 29.

The practice is not a modern science invention. It dates back possibly as far as Egyptians, Romans and Sumerians, who used Lunar calendars. They added extra days, but still couldn't make the math math. An expert with the National Institute of Standards and Technology stated, "When the Egyptians adopted this calendar they were aware that there was a problem. They just added an extra five days of festivals, of partying, at the end of the year." Sounds like an acceptable plan to me!

There are reports of Julius Caesar adding a leap day, also creating a 445 day 'Year of Confusion' to work out the problems between the calendar and the orbit. Then it's said he took the lead from Egypt adding the day every four years to balance things out. And eventually, the calendar we use today was adopted in 1582.

So here comes the fun part. Did you know Leap Day has ties to female empowerment? Apparently the story goes that a female patron saint of Ireland was not happy that women could not propose to men. In an effort to please her, Saint Patrick decided February 29th would be the only day women could ask men to marry them. And that's why you may have heard leap day referred to as Bachelor's Day.

And, there are even special names for those born on a leap day. They're called 'leapers' or 'leaplings.' And even though 5 million or so folks have February 29 birthdays, the odds are slim at only 1 in 1461. I've heard folks joke about getting married on a leap day so they only have to celebrate their anniversary every four years. So, now you know Leap Year history!