LIFESTYLE NEWS - Nearly every four years is a leap year which has 366 days, as opposed to acommon year, which has 365 in the Gregorian Calendar.
Leap years are needed to keep our modern day Gregorian calendar in alignment with the earth's revolutions around the sun. It takes the earth approximately 365.242189 days or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds to circle once around the sun.
This is called atropical year and is measured from the March equinox. However, the Gregorian calendar has only 365 days in a year, so if we didn't add a leap day on 29 February nearly every four years, we would lose almost six hours off our calendar every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by around 24 days!
We add a Leap Day on 29 February almost every four years.
The leap day is an extra, or intercalary day and we add it to the shortest month of the year, February. In the Gregorian calendar three criteria must be taken into account to identify leap years:
• The year can be evenly divided by 4;
The year 2000 was somewhat special as it was the first instance when the third criterion was used in most parts of the world since the transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar.
Who invented Leap Years?
Roman general Julius Caesar introduced the first leap years over 2000 years ago. But the Julian calendar had only one rule: any year evenly divisible by four would be a leap year.
This formula produced way too many leap years, but was not corrected until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar more than 1500 years later.
What is Leap day?
Leap day on 29 February occurs nearly every four years, but leap day babies (or leaplings) still get to celebrate their birthdays in common years.
Some celebrate on 28 February, some prefer 1 March. However, many countries have laws defining which date a person born on the 29th comes of age in legal terms. For instance, in New Zealand the official birthday falls on 28 February in common years; in other countries like the United Kingdom, they have to wait until 1 March.
Leap Year World Records
l According to the Guinness Book of Records, the only verified example of a family producing three consecutive generations born on 29 February is that of the Keogh family.
Peter Anthony was born in Ireland on a Leap Day in 1940, while his son, Peter Eric was born in the UK on 29 February 1964. Peter Eric's daughter, Bethany Wealth was also a Leap Day baby, born in the UK in 1996.
l The Henriksen family from Andenes, Norway currently holds the official record for the most number of children born in one family on Leap day.
Karin Henriksen gave birth to three children on 29 February; her daughter Heidi in 1960 and her sons Olav and Leif-Martin in 1964 and 1968.
Random Facts About Leap Day
Random Facts About Leap Day
l You've got a 1-in-1 461 chance of being born on a leap day.
l Most of us won't ever see a Leap Day skipped in our lifetimes. The last time a Leap Day was skipped was in February of 1900.
The next time will be in February of 2100. So unless modern medicine is keeping us all alive and miserable well into our early 100s, most of the people reading this list will always get a Leap Day every four years.
l Because of the Leap Day, you may have to work on New Year's Eve this year. Leap Years are the only years where 1 January and 31 December are on different days of the week.
Every other year they're on the same day. That means 31 December will be on a Monday, not a Sunday which means you may have to go in to work that day, then leave so you can go out for a night that will be even more disappointing than the average New Year's.
l 29 February is the one day where women are traditionally expected to propose to men. And not just in Amy Adams movies.
This actually is an Old Country (who knows which Old Country) tradition. And if the man turns you down, he's supposed to give you cash or clothing.
Seems like a fair trade off for an eternity of humiliation, shattered self-esteem and futile attempts to find someone who wants to buy a second-hand, unlucky engagement ring sized for a giant man-sized finger.
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