![]() ![]() the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts (1620),.We don’t know of any evidence supporting that marriage theory, but we do know that during leap years: In some cultures, it is considered bad luck to get married during a leap year. Many feel that to be born on Leap Day, thereby becoming a “leapling,” is a sign of good luck. “Leap year was ne’er a good sheep year” (old proverb).According to folklore, in a leap year, the weather always changes on Friday.Today, Sadie Hawkins Day sometimes applies to Feb 29 (leap day), based on this older tradition. Ages ago, Leap Day was known as “Ladies Day” or “Ladies’ Privilege,” as it was the one day when women were free to propose to men.Any leap day babies out there? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below! Leap Year Facts and Folklore What Is a Leap Day? And a Leapling?Ī “leap day” is the extra day in the leap year: February 29.Ī “leapling” is a person born on a leap day. The extra leap day adjusts this drift, but it’s not a perfect match: Adding a leap day every four years overcompensates by a few extra seconds each leap year, adding up to about three extra days every 10,000 years. Without leap days, the calendar would be off by 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds more each year.Īfter 100 years, the seasons would be off by 25 days! Eventually, the months we call February and March would feel like summer months in the Northern Hemisphere. Adding an extra day, aka a “leap day,” to the calendar every 4 years brings the calendar in line and therefore realigns it with the seasons. 25 difference, our calendar gradually gets out of sync with the seasons. One orbit of Earth around the Sun takes approximately 365.25 days-a little more than our Gregorian calendar’s nice, round number of 365. Because the calendar does not account for the extra quarter of a day that the Earth requires to complete its orbit around the Sun, it doesn’t completely align with the solar year.īecause of this. The short explanation for why we need leap years is that our calendar needs to stay aligned with the astronomical seasons. If a year satisfies both the rules above, then it is a leap year. (For this reason, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years, but the years 16 were.) Years that are divisible by 100 (century years such as 1900 or 2000) cannot be leap years unless they are also divisible by 400.A year may be a leap year if it is evenly divisible by 4. ![]() However, there is a little more to it than that. Generally, a leap year happens every four years, which, thankfully, is a fairly simple pattern to remember. Additionally, a leap year does not end and begin on the same day of the week, as a non–leap year does. (Keep reading for a longer explanation.)īecause of this extra day, a leap year has 366 days instead of 365. Without this extra day, our calendar and the seasons would gradually get out of sync. Therefore, 800, 12 were leap years - but 17 were not, because even though they are divisible by four, they are not divisible by 400.Summer Solstice 2023: The First Day of SummerĪdding an extra day every four years keeps our calendar aligned correctly with the astronomical seasons, since a year according to the Gregorian calendar (365 days) and a year according to Earth’s orbit around the Sun (approximately 365.25 days) are not the exact same length of time. Now, a leap year occurs in every year that is divisible by four, but only in century years that are evenly divided by 400. He also introduced a rule to take into account the discrepancy in the Julian calendar. So Pope Gregory XIII created the Gregorian calendar, coined the term “leap year” and established February 29 as the official date to add to a leap year. that slight discrepancy in the Julian calendar added up to 10 days. That would be perfect if a solar year were exactly 365 ¼ days – but 365.242 is a teeny bit less than that, and over time that teeny bit adds up.īy 1582 A.D. a decree by Julius Caesar began the practice of adding an extra day every four years, with the creation of the Julian calendar – making up for those quarter days. That discrepancy was spotted a while back. The problem is that in reality it takes the Earth around 365 ¼ days (actually 365.24219 days) to circle the Sun (that’s a solar year), which means our calendar is out by around a quarter of a day a year. Our calendar has 365 days in a year, because that’s pretty much how long it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun. 2020 is a leap year, which means we get to enjoy a whole extra day of February, and people born on February 29 finally get some presents. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |