Leap Day, February 29, has been a day of traditions, folklore and superstitions ever since Leap Years were first introduced by Julius Caesar over 2000 years ago.
Probably the most well-known Leap Day legend comes from old Ireland. Legend has it that St Brigid struck a deal with St Patrick to allow women to propose to men every four years on February 29. Any man that refused a proposal from a woman had to buy her 12 pairs of gloves. The idea is that she could wear the gloves to hide the shame of her engagement-ring-less finger.
So, ladies, go ahead and be traditionally untraditional and start rehearsing for the big proposal!
So why do we have leap years?
The Gregorian calendar, which serves as the standard calendar for civil use throughout the world, has both common years and leap years. A common year has 365 days and a leap year 366 days, with the extra day designated as February 29. A leap year occurs every four years to help synchronize the calendar year with the solar year, or the length of time it takes the earth to complete its orbit around the sun, which is about 365¼ days.
The length of the solar year, however, is slightly less than 365¼ days, by about 11 minutes. To compensate for this discrepancy, the leap year is omitted three times every four hundred years.
What about people who are born on Leap Day -- known as leaplings or leapers?
For one thing, State identification doesn’t list their actual birthday. Most states assign March 1 as the birthdate of people born on Feb. 29, and in some states it’s Feb. 28.
If you're a leaper, perhaps you choose to celebrate your birthday on the actual day, every four years. There's an advantage to that. When you're 60 in non-leaper years, you're only 15 in leaper years -- so ACT LIKE AN ADOLESCENT on your birthday!
Leap year is also the year presidential elections are held.
And, this leap year offers an extra bonus. The shift of days sets up 2020 to be the year of long holiday weekends.
- Valentine’s Day will be on a Friday
- Cinco De Mayo will be on Taco Tuesday
- Fourth of July and Halloween will both fall on Saturdays
- Christmas Day and New Year’s Day 2021 will both be on a Friday.
Here is a link to Tampa Bay Area events so you can plan something special to celebrate the extra day. Happy Leap Day!
