Note: This was published on Leap Year Day in the Bolivar Herald-Free Press. They allow me to publish features they have published in other places 30 days after the original publication date. I would be most interested in any thoughts readers of this blog have about it.

Leap years exist because to synchronize our calendars to the peculiarities of the earth’s movement about the sun and the seasons that result from that movement. The online site Eric Weisstein’s World of Astronomy relates, “Since the tropical year is 365.242190 days long, a leap years must be added roughly once every four years.” A “tropical year” is the time it takes the earth to make a revolution around the sun. That part of a day adds up and would throw off the calendar, confusing the times in which seasons occur, if we had a simple 365 days calendar. An extra day on leap year compensates for the fraction of a day.

According to World of Astronomy, the leap year with its extra day was first introduced in 46 BC in the Julian calendar that was then in use. The Gregorian calendar currently used by most countries adopted this innovation.

However, calendars called “lunisolar” were developed prior to the Julian calendar and compensated for nature’s fraction of a day by adding an extra month to the year every so many years. Some of these calendars are still in use such as the traditional Chinese and Jewish calendars.

The leap year rules of the Gregorian calendar are described on a website called time and date.com. Every year divisible by four is a leap year unless it is also divisible by one hundred in which case it is not usually a leap year. However, there is one exception to the last rule: years divisible by four hundred as well as one hundred are leap years.

The special quality of leap year has fostered unusual customs associated with it. Traditionally in Western society, men are supposed to propose marriage. About.com reports that February 29th has long been a day on which it was acceptable for women to pop the question. The website continues, “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. According to legend, St. Patrick said the yearning females could propose on this one day in February during the leap year.”

About.com continues that in 1288 “Scotland passed a law that allowed women to propose marriage to the man of their choice in that year.” The law also mandated that a man who refused had to pay a fine to compensate the woman for the rejection. That fine could be anything from a kiss to payment for a pair of gloves.

Leap year has inspired musicians. Songwriter Bill Cane wrote Leap Year Lena and The Leap year Waltz, both tunes that are set to the “swing” style. A band called Rookie Card recorded 2/29, a song written by band member Adam Gimbel, who was born on Leap Year Day.

The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies is the title of a website devoted to people born on that day. It discusses the question of when birthdays should be celebrated in non-yeap years and credits a man named Kevin Kennelly with coining the term “strict Februarian” for those who make it the last day of that month rather than the first of March. The website advocates a cause: putting Leap Year Day on the calendar.

Nature’s mischievousness in scheduling earth’s trip around the sun has given rise to the human ingenuity expressed in leap year and our “leaps” into a lot of good fun.

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