Did you check your calendar? Or were you one of the victims of writing “1 or 365” during the New Year? 2024 is a special year—a leap year! Yet, has it ever crossed your mind why we have an extra day? Why does February 29 exist? Fret no more— this is a sign for you to read this treat! You best be-leap this!
What is a Leap Year?
A leap year is when an “extra” day is added to the shortest month of the year, February. Have you ever noticed that if your birthday falls on a Monday and the next year is a leap year, instead of your birthday being on a Tuesday, it falls on a Wednesday? That’s the essence of a leap year. In layman's terms, a leap year is when February 29 exists, with an advanced day, and it helps our calendars catch up with the Earth’s revolution around the Sun. February 29 is the extra day, thus called the “leap day”.
The Science Behind Leap Years
Do you know how long it takes for Earth to orbit around the Sun? You must have known it’s 365 days. In precise mathematical terms, it takes 365.24219 days—or, if rounded up: 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 56 seconds. In science, it’s what they call the “solar year” or a common year. One year is not an exact number of days. In a leap year, we have 366 days instead.
In a usual solar year, we are ¼ day short of completing an orbit. In four years, this is when a leap year comes in. This is to make up for the missing hours in a complete revolution around the sun. In a leap year, we are one and a half days (¾) more in a complete orbit around the sun.
In that sense, there is an extra 45 minutes to every leap-year cycle. Thus, there are instances where there would be a skipped leap year. There is a rule to correct this: years divisible by 100 would not be a leap year, unless they were also divisible by 400. Example: The years 1700 and 1800 are not leap years, but 2000 was one. Should this rule continue to exist, then the years 2100, 2200, 2300, and 2500 will have no leap day.
Meanwhile, it takes 24 hours—one day—for Earth to rotate on its axis.
So what if we didn’t have a leap year?
If we were to strictly keep 365 days in a year, the seasons and annual events like equinoxes and solstices would be pushed even later in the year. Following that thought, winter could fall in the middle of June or summer in November. In the Philippines, though we may not have all four seasons, there would be problems when it comes to harvest and planting seasons, as they should be aligned with the sun and the trend of the months.
In short, with the loss of 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds every year, annual events would be a jumbled mess. The extra day keeps the seasons intact and aligned.
Short history of the leap year
Some time in the past, civilizations had their own unique calendars using only the symbols in the sky (see: sun, moon, stars) to help plan their lives. They were based according to the phases of the moon, or the alignment of the sun— “lunisolars,” as they were called.
During the time of Julius Caesar, the Roman Empire developed the Mercedonius, an extra month added every two years to help keep up with their old calendar that was out of sync. Julius Caesar, the reigning Roman emperor, was fed up with their system. This is when the Julian calendar was created: a solar calendar, with the idea that February would have an extra day every four years.
Although in history, it was believed that Julius Caesar mandated this change, their calculations for the Earth’s orbit around the sun weren’t entirely precise. While the Julian calendar believed the Earth orbits around the sun in 365.25 days, it was corrected to be 365.24219 later on—with less than 11 minutes.
Pope Gregory XIII signed an order in 1582 that dictated a few changes: leap years would still happen every four years, but in centuries—aka, except for years divisible by 100 unless also divisible by 400. Up to present, this more accurate calendar is known as the Gregorian calendar.
Some superstitions, beliefs, and traditions during Leap Year
In some places around the world, there are various traditions that people adhere to for this extra day of the year. One of these is about women proposing to men. This is due to the belief that it helps in the balance of gender roles, something that the leap year and Earth’s orbit have in common. It was believed it began as an Irish legend for women to have the opportunity to propose to their significant other after waiting too long.
In Scotland, women had to wear red petticoats before they would propose to men. However, in Denmark, if a man refuses, he needs to buy 12 gloves and give them to the woman who proposed.
Apart from the switch in gender roles, leap days are believed to be a sign of good luck and fate.
In Taiwan, women who are married are expected to give their parents pig trotter noodles for “good health and fortune.”.
Leaplings, the term for people who are born on February 29, get to celebrate their birthdays during leap years. In a common year, they either celebrate it on February 28 or March 1. In some countries, like New Zealand, leaplings officially celebrate their birthdays on February 28, yet in the United Kingdom, it’s on March 1.
So what makes leap years and February 29 special?
With an extra day on the calendar, one can only define the extra day in their own terms. It could be another day of living, working through assignments, or even spending time with their loved ones. With the extra day added to the year and our lives, it’s best to spend it with good intentions and time. Take it as a time to rest, to meet with your friends, or to talk to your loved ones—after all, human life is short, and it’s time to make the most of it.
How about you, how will you spend your leap day?