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The original Roman 355 day calendar had an extra 22-day month
every few years to maintain the correct seasonal changes.
By the time Julius Caesar took reign, the seasons no longer
occurred during the same months they once had.
This was remedied in 45
B.C. by removing the extra month and adding the extra day
to a few months instead.
Julius Caesar proclaimed
the last day of February as Leap Year Day, skipping it three
out of four years. Back then, February 30th was the last day
of the last month of the year, which is why he picked it.
Julius also threw in a
month in honour of himself (Julius - July).
Around 10 BC, it was found
that the priests in charge of computing the calendar had been
adding leap years every three years instead of the four decreed
by Caesar (Vardi 1991, p. 239). As a result of this error,
no more leap years were added until 8 A.D. Leap years were
therefore 45 BC, 42 BC, 39 BC, 36 BC, 33 BC, 30 BC, 27 BC,
24 BC, 21 BC, 18 BC, 15 BC, 12 BC, 9 BC, 8 AD, 12 AD, and
every fourth year thereafter (Tøndering), until the
Gregorian calendar was introduced
In 4 A.D. Emperor Caesar
Augustus corrected a counting error in Leap Years. He also
had the month of August named after him, and took the last
day of February so that August can have 31 days, just like
Julius' month. Now February has 29 days in Leap Years.
The calendar was finally
perfected by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 who predicted Easter
and Christmas would eventually fall on top of each other without
his intervention.
Pope Gregory determined
that Leap Day should fall on any year divisible by 4 but not
100 (except when the year is divisible by 400).
Century years were made
leap years if they were divisible by 400. So, 2000 was a Leap
Year, but 1900 was not.
At the same time, Pope
Gregory moved the end of the year to December 31st.
He also moved the end
of the year back two months so that Easter would occur in
the spring.
Today our year is 365.2425
days, off from our solar year by .00031, or one day's error
over 4,000 years.
Leap Seconds! Some years
are longer than others. This is mostly due to weather. Every
few years, scientists agreed to add or remove a second from
a year right at midnight on January 1st or July 1st. This
is called a Leap Second.
Newsflash: Scientists have now discovered that the Earth is
not rotating as fast, and have deemed this practice unnecessary!
Leap Moons! Many countries
use a lunar calendar to celebrate religious holidays. Whenever
the lunar calendar falls behind the solar calendar by more
than a moon month, a Leap Moon Month is added to the lunar
calendar.
If you're a "Leaper,"
you will have beaten the 1,506 odds against being born on
Leap Day
There is now in existence
the Worldwide Leap Year Birthday Club and the Worldwide Leap
Year Festival.
Leap Year was the traditional
time that women could propose marriage. When the rules of
courtship were stricter, women were only allowed to pop the
question on one day every four years - February 29th.
It is believed this tradition
was started in 5th century Ireland when St.Bridget complained
to St. Patrick about women having to wait for so long for
a man to propose. So, according to legend, St. Patrick said
women could propose on this one day in February during the
Leap Year.
According to English
law, February 29th was ignored and had no legal status.
Folks assumed that traditions
would also have no status on that day. It was also reasoned
that since the leap year day existed to fix a problem in the
calendar, it could also be used to fix an old and unjust custom
that only let men propose marriage.
The first documentation
of this practice dates back to 1288, when Scotland passed
a law that allowed women to propose marriage to the man of
their choice in that year.
They also made it law
that any man who declined a proposal in a Leap Year must pay
a fine. The fine could range from a kiss to payment for a
silk dress or a pair of gloves.
In the United States,
some people have referred to this date as Sadie Hawkins Day,
with women being given the right to run after unmarried men
to propose.
There is a Greek superstition
that claims couples have bad luck if they marry during a leap
year. Apparently one in five engaged couples in Greece will
avoid planning their wedding during a leap year.
Herman Hollerith developed
the first computer on Leap Day 1860. He had been a special
agent for the US census, and developed punch cards and electric
tabulating machines in time to process the census returns,
reducing considerably the time needed to complete the clerical
work. Hollerith's venture became part of what is now the IBM
Corporation.
Leapship - A friendship
or relationship between 2 Leapies!
The Gotthard railway
tunnel between Switzerland & Italy was completed on Leap
Day 1880.
Dutch scientists produced
solid helium on Leap Day 1908.
The discovery of the
first pulsar in space was announced on Leap Day 1968.
LeapGramp and LeapGran
- The Grandparents of a Leap Day Baby!
There are currently around
4.1 million ‘Leapers’ in the world today.
Ann Lee (founder of Shakerism)
was born in Manchester Leap Day 1736
Rossini (composer) was
born on Leap Day 1792
John Holland, American
inventor of the submarine, was born on Leap Day 1792
Jimmy Dorsey (bandleader)
was born Leap Day 1904
Ja Rule (Rap Artist)
born Leap Day 1976
1964 Olav Henriksen born
- The 2nd of 3 siblings born on consecutive Leap Days
Leapophile - People who
are not themselves Leapies but like and celebrate Leap Day!
Leap Year cocktail -
never order a Leap Year cocktail by name. Instead, call out
the ingredients: 1.5 oz gin, 0.5 oz Grand Marnier, 0.5 oz
sweet vermouth, and a squeeze of lemon. Shake with crushed
ice and pour into a chilled cocktail glass.
Leap Year Day Babies
will never have a "Golden Birthday". A Golden Birthday
is when your age matches the number of the day of the month
you were born on. Leap Year Day Babies will have to be 116
before they turn 29 on the 29th!
Longest Reported Leap
Day: Jon Hayanga Leap Year Day Baby 1960, had his birthday
in Taipei one day then crossed the international date line
going
east and had his birthday again the next day in Spokane, WA,
USA.
Shortest Reported Leap
Day: Ed Chatfield Leap Year Day Baby 1940, crossed the date-line
in a ship (going west) the night of February 28th and woke
up on March 1st. So he lost his birthday entirely.
Leapicide - People who
celebrate on Feb 28 and Mar 1 as well as Feb 29!
Leap Year Day Babies
born in 1884 had no birthday during their entire teen-age
years. Why? Because 1900 was not a Leap Year.
The Order of 29'ers was
operated by the Pittsburg, Kansas, Headlight-Sun newspaper,
from the 1920's through the 1960's. Their motto was "semel
quatuor annis," and they sent out certificates to people
born on February 29th. The certificate was yellow and had
a picture of a baby, bracketed by a stork on one side and
father time on the other.
There was a time when
Leap Year Balls happened all throughout the Leap Year. Women
were given the "right" to ask a man for his hand
in marriage. They were afforded a lovely place to display
themselves, and propose their man of choice, at lavish and
fantastic Leap Year Balls. If the man declined her proposal
he had to provide her with a silk dress and a kiss on the
cheek.
Leap Year Dances were
common as well. Here, a woman may do the asking for a dance.
The women attending either a Leap Year Ball or a Leap Year
Dance may ask her man to marry her. It is "OK" for
a woman to ask in a Leap Year.
The premise of Gilbert
and Sullivan's musical The Pirates of Penzance is based on
the birth of the main character on a leap day. Frederic was,
as a child, apprenticed to a band of tenderhearted, orphaned
pirates by his nurse who, being hard of hearing, had mistaken
her master's instructions to apprentice the boy to a pilot.
Frederic, upon completing his 21st year, rejoices that he
has fulfilled his indentures and is now free to return to
respectable society. But it turns out that he was born on
February 29, Leap Year Day, and he remains apprenticed to
the pirates until his 21st birthday (when he's 84!).
Make a Leap Year Kiss
Cake - Take one armful of pretty girl, 1 lovely face, 2 laughing
brown or blue eyes, 2 rosy cheeks and 2 lips like strawberries.
Mix well and press to lips. The result will be astonishing.
For frosting take 1 piece of dark piazza and a little moonlight,
and press into 1 large or small hand so as not to attract
attention, 2 ounces of romance and 1 or 2 whiskers. Dissolve
half a dozen glances into a quantity of hesitation and 2 ounces
of yielding. Place kisses on blushing lips or cheeks. Flavour
with a slight scream and set aside to cool.
Yes, Superman is a Leap
Day Baby! He is a comic book character, so he can have whatever
birthday his creator decides to give him. An article in TIME
magazine, March 14 1988, proclaimed Superman to be born on
February 29. However, If you figure it out, there is no way
anyone can be 50 'years' old on February 29, of any Leap Year.
They would have to be 48 or 52. And, if someone did turn 50
'Leap Years' old on February 29, 1988, they would have been
born in 1784! |
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