February 29th is only seen on the calendar once every four years. Not many people know why it is barely seen even though it has a rich history. Some researchers claim that a new calendar can be put into effect that would erase the need for this extra day; however, that’s not the case.
Leap year is important to keep the calendar in line with annual events, like equinoxes and solstices. It’s known that it takes Earth 365 days to orbit the sun, but, in actuality, it takes six hours extra. Scientists added the extra day to every presidential election year to compensate for this time difference. Interestingly enough, the four year period may need to change in order to keep up with the Earth’s rotation in the future, but that may not become an issue in this lifetime. Without a leap year, the seasons will change and won’t align with the months that they do now. Younas Khan, a physics instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, mentioned to Associated Press in a news article that summer weather could occur in November without the leap day or there will be no snow around Christmas. Basically, the calendar as we know it would change completely.
The concept of leap year has been around for a while. Many ancient civilizations only used the sun and moon to understand the concept of time. It wasn’t until Julius Caesar invented the Julian calendar, which stated that there were 355.25 days in a year, when leap year was officially added to any record. The Julian calendar was faulty, however. There were too many leap years to appropriately follow the sun. After this, there were two more calendars presented: the Athenian calendar and the Gregorian calendar. The Athenian calendar caused issues because it didn’t follow all seasonal religious rites. The Gregorian calendar is still the one people use and love today; Pope Gregory XIII took ideas from the Julian calendar, but tweaked it because it was important to him that Easter remained in the Spring months.
It’s typical for cultures to make seemingly meaningless days meaningful. They create their own traditions and stories in order to make the narrative interesting. The most popular tradition comes from Britain and Ireland in which the women propose to a man of their choice (There was even a movie produced called Leap Year celebrating this folklore). In the fifteenth century, Saint Bridget complained to Saint Patrick that she was tired of waiting for a man to pop the question. Saint Patrick gave women the right to propose once every four years, and thus a tradition began. This concept traveled to Scotland where Queen Margaret adopted the idea, but women were told they had to wear a red petticoat when asking.
In contradiction to this, Greece and other European countries believe that getting married on a leap day can result in bad luck and/or divorce.
Getting married on a leap day is preventable, but having a baby may be trickier to prevent. In Texas, a parade is held every February 29th called “The Leaplings” that celebrates all those born on the leap day. And no, a sixteen year old is not actually four because their birthday doesn’t always appear on the calendar.
Leap day has become an integral part of many cultures and a holiday worth celebrating. Maybe one day February 29th won’t appear every four years, but much more or much less, but, for now, the day is there as a reminder to vote in the upcoming presidential election. And, perhaps, a man just said yes.
