3 of 6

Write now Article Tools

As fun as it might be to try and get everyone on the planet to accommodate a quarter of a day each and every year, the planet itself would just mock us as the sun rose and set as per usual. A leap year occurs in our calendar every four years because in the Gregorian calendar that we follow, a year is approximately 365.25 days long. Therefore, we just go with the now-standard 365 days and tack on an extra day to the month of February every four years to make up for the last three years of underachieving.

Believe it or not, there is another rule to this, "every four years," business that is worth mentioning. We only have an extra day every four years where the year is not divisible by 100. Unless it is also divisible by 400. So, the year 2000 was a leap year but the year 2100 will not be.

Children born on February 29 are called, "leapers," or, "leaplings," the latter being my favorite. They celebrate their birthdays on February 28 or March 1, but every four years - except if it happens to be divisible by 100 and not 400 of course - they get to celebrate on the true anniversary of their birth with much ado if they are so inclined. This has led to some leaplings saying they are four years old when in fact they are 16, and has also been a device in different stories over the years, including the operetta The Pirates of Penzance.

An interesting tidbit comes to us via our Scottish heritages. That is that February 29 is the only day of the year that a woman may propose. Yup, believe it or not there was a law passed in 1288 that this was the only day of the year that a woman could propose and, so, it has become quite the trend in modern times, especially in Great Britain. Apparently, it used to be that any day of the leap year was fair game. However, if a man turned the woman down, he had to pay a fine in the form of a silk frock or some other such thing. Therefore, to limit liabilities, the law was passed confining the proposals to the 29th of February alone.

So, leading up to February 29, 2008, I expect that we will get a new batch of newspaper articles about the women that are planning to propose to their beaus, the men that are either looking forward to that or running in fear, and all about what the next group of leaplings will be doing to celebrate future birthdays. Me, I shall place a large sum of money into the silk textile industry.

Learn more about this author, Amy Arreola.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Overview: Leap Year 2008?
We want to hear your view. Write now!