Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Happy Leap Day!

Hey all, it's Leap Year Day!  February 29th only exists every 4 years.  Did you know why?  Well in a leap year we have 366 days, instead of the normal 365.  This is because it helps to keep our calendar lined up with where the Earth is in relation to the sun.  You see, it actually takes the Earth 365.242199 days to orbit the sun.  So if we kept having years with only 365 days, we would slowly fall behind.  We correct this by adding 1 day every 4 years.

Other interesting stuff about leap years!  We started having leap years over 2000 years ago, in 45 BCE (Before Common Era)

Traditions~

Women can propose to men on Leap Year Day according to an old Irish legend.  It's said that St. Bridget struck a deal with St. Patrick to allow this as a way to balance the traditional roles of men and women.  Because of this in some places Leap Day is also known as Bachelors' Day.  In the Middle Ages a man had to pay a penalty if he refused to marry a woman who proposed on Leap Day!

In Scotland it is bad luck to be born on Leap Day and also bad luck to get married during a Leap Year and especially on Leap Day.

People who are born on Leap Day all get invited to join The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies.  Some famous Leap Day babies?  Pope Paul III and Ja Rule are both Leap babies!

Hope  you found it interesting...now do something today that you'll only do every 4 years!

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