Happy Leap Day!
Leap Day: Making Up For Lost Time
Need an extra day? You got it!Friday, February 29 is Leap Day, that extra day that’s tacked on to the end of the month every four years.
Why the extra day? Earth’s trip around the sun is nearly six hours longer than the 365 days on our calendar. So the extra day is added every four years to keep the calendar in sync with the earth’s rotation of the sun.
If you want to get technical, the Earth actually takes 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds to rotate around the sun. Since that’s not exactly six hours, leap years at the start of centuries are omitted unless they’re divisible by 400. As a result, 1900 was not a leap year, 2000 was, but 2100 won’t be.
Julius Caesar created the first Leap Year in 46 B.C., acting on advice by astronomer Sosigenes. And we’ve had an extra day every four years ever since. But what do people do with the extra day?
Here’s a great idea. Many centuries ago (when courtship rules were stricter), the leap year tradition of allowing women ask men to marry them was introduced. Later, men who refused those proposals had to pay a penalty such as a kiss, gown or money. In the United States, the tradition evolved into Sadie Hawkins Day (celebrated in November).
On the negative side, there is a Greek superstition that claims couples have bad luck if they marry during a leap year. In fact, one in five Greek couples avoids planning their wedding during a leap year.
What about people who are born on February 29? There are about four million of them around the world, including 200,000 in the United States.
Their birthdays only happen every four years. Otherwise they have to decide whether to celebrate Feb. 28 or March 1. Either way, that just isn’t the same as celebrating on your actual birthday.
But people born Feb. 29 do have a few perks. Known as “leaplings,” the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies was established in the 1970s and now has a web site dedicated to promoting awareness of leap year baby issues.
Leaplings are also honored with a celebration in the town of Anthony, New Mexico/Texas. The town of 4,000 holds a Leap Year Festival every four years, complete with registration of Leap Day’ babies, hot-air balloon lifts, a parade, birthday dinners and other attractions.
Also many leaplings get special product deals on Leap Day, like free food. Be on the lookout for that!
And leaplings also have fun with math. Well into their retirement years, they can claim to have celebrated only a teenager’s worth of actual birthdays.
Some of the famous leaplings celebrating their birthdays this year include actor Dennis Farina (1944), self-help guru Tony Robbins (1960) and rapper Ja Rule (1976). Famous leaplings throughout history include Pope Paul III (born in 1468), band leader Jimmy Dorsey (1904) and songstress Dinah Shore (1916).
Which reminds us, let’s not forget some of the historical events that happened on Feb. 29.
One of the biggest was in 1940 when Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American actress or actor to be honored with an Academy Award. She won for Best Supporting Actress in Gone With The Wind in the role of Mammy, a housemaid and former slave.
In all, Gone With the Wind won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. And it was the first time comedian Bob Hope hosted the Oscars.
In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission, warned that racism was causing America to move “toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.”
In 1972, Hank Aaron signed a three-year deal with the Atlanta Braves that paid him $200,000 per year, making him the highest-paid player in Major League Baseball at the time. Two years later, he became baseball’s home run king when he broke Babe Ruth’s long-standing record.
So celebrate the extra day that comes to us only once every four years.
Happy Leap Day!
