Why do we have leap years? Sun Bingo’s ultimate guide to 29th February
SUN BINGO has answers for all your leap year questions.
Thirty days has September,
April, June and November.
All the rest have thirty-one,
Except February, which has twenty-eight days clear,
And twenty-nine each leap year.
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While you might have been taught a slightly different version of the calendar nursery rhyme, all of them make a point that February can have either 28 OR 29 days, depending on the year.
That’s thanks to leap years. Every four years, a new date appears at the end of February, a twenty-ninth day that doesn’t exist for the next three years.
As a society, we’ve accepted that leap years are necessary and welcome this quadrennial extra day.
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Why?
What is a leap year? Why do we still have them?
Before we get into Sun Bingo’s ultimate guide to leap years, let’s spare a thought for leaplings (also known as “leapers”).
These are people who have their birthday on 29th February.
They are only able to celebrate on their real birthday every four years.
It’s believed there are approximately 5 million leaplings around the world.
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Their unique birthday entitles them to join the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies.
What are leap years?
Every four years, the calendar is extended from 365 days to 366, the extra day is added to the end of February.
Why do we have leap years?
A common year is 365 days long because that’s how long it takes the Earth to do one complete orbit of the sun.
However, that’s a rounded number.
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The real length is 365.24 days.
This extra time needs to be considered otherwise, through the years, the calendar and the seasons would start to misalign.
If not corrected, over a period of 700 years, summer in the northern hemisphere would begin in the calendar month of December.
The potential impact of not having leap years was seen in 46 B.C. (the Year of Confusion).
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Julius Caesar made the year 445 days long in an attempt to correct the fact that the seasons and months were no longer correlating.
When did we start having leap years?
The Gregorian calendar began to be used in the UK in 1752.
Since then, leap years have been observed each four years.
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Why are they called leap years?
A common year is 52 weeks and 1 day long.
That’s why your birthday falls on a different day of the week each year.
Usually, it only shifts by one (e.g. a Tuesday to a Wednesday).
However, in years with a 29th February, it shifts by two days (e.g. a Tuesday to a Thursday).
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Hence, dated events, such as birthdays, appear to “leap” over a whole day of the week and skip it out.
Do we ever skip leap years?
While adding a leap year mostly accounts for the Earth’s orbit time, it’s not a perfect answer.
It actually makes the calendar year too long by 44 minutes.
As would happen if we didn’t have leap years, not correcting for the extra 44 minutes would cause the seasons to appear in different calendar months.
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So, a rule was introduced.
If the leap year is divisible by 100, but not divisible by 400, the leap year is skipped.
That means that the leap years in 1800 and 1900 were skipped. As 2000 is divisible by 400, the leap year occurred as normal 24 years ago.
The next leap year to be skipped will be in the year 2100.
So, leaplings will have to wait 8 years for their next real birthday between 2096 and 2104.
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Leap year superstitions around the world
The idea of a new day suddenly appearing in the calendar, vanishing, and then popping back up four years later has, understandably, led to a lot of mysticism and superstition surrounding 29th February.
- Doomed to divorce
Films such as Mamma Mia make a wedding in Greece look idyllic.
However, they probably didn’t take place during a leap years.
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That’s because there’s an ancient superstition that those who say “I do, I do, I do, I do, I do” in a year with 366 days are destined to divorce.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, if the divorce is finalised during a leap year, the couple are doomed to never find love again.
- He said yes!
Probably the best known leap year tradition is that women propose to men.
This is said to have originated from a 5th century agreement between Saint Bridget and Paint Patrick.
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The Irish nun convinced the patron saint to allow women the chance to propose, creating the tradition of Bachelor’s Day.
Every four years, the ring is on the other hand and women are encouraged to get down on one knee and pop the question.
- Lady in red
The idea of women taking charge with engagements on leap days spread to Scotland.
However, they took it one step further.
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Legend has it that a law was passed which stated that any man who refused a leap day proposal had to pay a fine or buy a silk gown for their spurred suitor.
For their part, the would-be female proposers had to wear red petticoats as an indication of their intentions.
- Baa-d year
The Scots really don’t have a good feeling about leap years.
The folklore goes on to suggest that leaplings will live lives of untold suffering, and they aren’t the only ones.
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Farmers would claim that a leap year “was never a good sheep year”.
We’ve got a wooly bad feeling for any Scottish sheep born on 29th February.
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Other countries also leapt on the Bachelor’s Day tradition, and the notion of punishments if the men refuse.
In Denmark, the rejecting man must buy the woman 12 pairs of gloves, to cover up her ring-free fingers.
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Meanwhile, men in Finland must provide enough fabric for the woman to make herself a skirt.
- Read all about it
It can feel like ages until you get to read the next instalment of your favourite book series, magazine or paper.
Now imagine if that was a four-year wait!
That’s how often Paris’ La Bougie du Sapeur is printed (making it officially the world’s least frequently published newspaper).
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Each new edition is printed only on leap day. It’s always completely new material, often with heavy satire.
The first publication was in 1980. It sells for €4.70 per edition or there’s a subscription service of €100 per century.
- Soup for the soul
In Taiwan, leap years are considered to be unlucky for the elderly.
To combat this, a tradition has arisen whereby married daughters return to their parents’ home on 29th February and cook pig trotter noodles.
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The dish is said to bring good fortune and long life.
- Big celebration
It isn’t all doom and gloom when it comes to leap year traditions.
Anthony, Texas, has declared itself the “Leap Year Capital of the World”.
Every four years, a celebration called the Leap Year Festival is held.
There’s music, entertainment, food and attractions.
It all kicks off with a special dinner where leaplings are given gifts and eat for free.
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