Leap Day
Some things in life are really complicated, and some are not. Thankfully, leap year is not one of them. It is as simple as the fact that we have a leap year every four years because the Earth takes approximately 365.25 days to orbit around the sun every year. It’s that .25 that creates the need for a leap year every four years.
During the reign of Julius Cesar, upon the advice of Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer who began to note that this extra time was essential to keep the calendar and the season and time on track. According to the History Chanel , “In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar by creating the Gregorian calendar with the assistance of Christopher Clavius,” a German mathematician and astronomer. The Gregorian calendar further stated that leap days should not be added in years ending in “00” unless that year is also divisible by 400. This additional correction was added to stabilize the calendar over a period of thousands of years and was necessary because solar years are actually slightly less than 365.25 days. In fact, a solar year occurs over a period of 365.2422 days.
For those special people born on this day they are often called a “leapling” or a “leap-year-baby. In non-leap years, some leaplings celebrate their birthday on either February 28 or March 1, while others only observe birthdays on the authentic date of February 29. In truth they are leap “day” babies, not leap year, but it would not be incorrect to say they are both.
For the romantics, there is the long standing Irish tradition of women proposing to men on this date. In 2010 the Romantic Comedy Movie Leap Year was released. The main character, Anna (Amy Adams) suffers through yet another anniversary with her boyfriend, without a marriage proposal. She decides to take action. Aware of a Celtic tradition that allows women to pop the question on Feb. 29, she plans to follow her lover to Dublin and ask him to marry her.
Additionally, the marketing geniuses of the world have found a way to utilize this day as a way to promote business. Special hotel rates and meal specials are honored all over the United States. A few of these leap deals can be access by reading the article on USA today.com from February 24, 2016.
Others treat this like any other but however you chose to spend it, just know that you will not get another chance to live like it is February 29th for another four years. How will you spend this Leap Year day?
