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| Interesting Things to Know about the Leap Year |
By:
Steven D Wingler |
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What and when is leap year? A leap year is a year that has 366 days instead of the usual 365 days on the calendar. It occurs once every four years, based on how the Earth take a longer time to travel around the Sun at 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. This was discovered by the ancient Egyptians when they noticed that the solar year and the man-made calendar would not always coincide. As a result, the additional hours due to these 'leap years' would be accumulated and then added to each year. However, the Romans came up with the date February 29 as the leap year, and then much later, a formula was used to calculate and perfect the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, whereby years that are divisible by four, like 2004, 2008, and 2012 is used to indicate when is leap year. This formula is still used up to today. With this formula, people around the world would be able to anticipate the start of each season without complicated mathematics.
As leap years only happen every four years, there have been many speculations about the special date. To start off with, astrologers believe that anyone born on February 29, which is under the sign of Pisces, will have some sort of unusual talent or personality that will show. And while everyone else has an official birthday to celebrate every year on, those born on February 29 only can officially celebrate once every four years, where they would claim to be younger than everyone else. However, most of these February 29 babies choose to celebrate on either February 28 or March 1 for non-leap years.
There are also other traditions with regards to leap years. In the 5th century in Ireland, it is said that St Bridget complained to St Patrick that it was not fair that women would have to wait for men to propose instead. As a result, St Patrick made February 29 the day in which women would be allowed to propose to men for their hand in marriage instead. The tradition continued in Scotland and America; where in Scotland, Queen Margaret declared in 1288 that women can propose to any man she liked and men who rejected the proposal would need to pay a fine in the form of a kiss, silk dress or pair of gloves to the woman; in America, the Sadie Hawkin's Day created in the cartoon strip Li'l Abner by Al Capp, which is the day women in the town is allowed to pursue the most eligible bachelors in Dogpatch. Sadie Hawkin's Day was later replaced to November, but it is a day that is fondly remembered on February 29. There are other beliefs that should a woman's proposal be denied by the man, he will be cursed with bad luck. For those who still follows these traditions, February 29 is either much anticipated or avoided.
Enjoy reading more information about related topics like http://www.whenguide.com/when-is-the-next-leap-year.html"> when is leap year and http://www.thelists.org/list-of-leap-years.html"> list of leap years.
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