Leap Day 29 February 2024

It is catch up time again this month, or otherwise known as Leap Day. Leap Year has 366 days instead of the normal 365 days in the year, and the additional day is added to the shortest month of the year, 29th February.

Leap day as a concept has existed for more than 2000 years, and is still associated with age-old customs, folklore and superstition. One of the most well-known traditions is that women propose to their boyfriends, instead of the other way around. In some places, leap day has been known as “Bachelors’ Day” for the same reason. A man was expected to pay a penalty, such as a gown or money, if he refused a marriage proposal from a woman on Leap Day.

People born on 29 February are called “Leaplings” or “Leapers”. I read that there are approximately five million “Leaplings” around the world. The chances of a baby being born on leap day is about 1 in 1,500. If you are born on a Leap Day, you can celebrate your birthday either on 28 February or 1 March. Most legal systems, consider 1 March as the official birthday for those born on 29 February. For driver licenses, people born on 29 February "are deemed to have been born on 1 March."

I wondered if there are any “Leaplings” on Norfolk Island. If you are, then you are a Leapling, you are 1 in 1,500 to have a birthday on this special day, I wish you a wonderful birthday celebration. The next Leap Day will be in four years’ time on 29 February 2028.

On 29 February 1788, , Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball and crew on board the First Fleet Armed Tender HMS Supply sighted Norfolk Island on the voyage from Sydney Cove to Norfolk Island with the first pioneer British settlers.

Roman general Julius Caesar implemented the first leap day in his Julian Calendar, which he introduced in 45 BCE (Before Common Era). A leap day was added every four years. At the time, leap day was February 24, and February was the last month of the year.

However, adding a leap day every four years was too often and eventually, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian Calendar. This calendar, which we still use today, has a more precise formula for calculating of leap years, also known as bissextile years.

In the Gregorian calendar, 29 February, is a date that occurs in most years that are divisible by 4, such as 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024 and 2028. Years that are divisible by 100, but not by 400, do not contain a leap day. Thus, 1700, 1800, and 1900 did not contain a leap day, 2100, 2200, and 2300 will not contain a leap day, while 1600 and 2000 did, and 2400 will. In the Chinese calendar, this day will only occur in years of the monkey, dragon, and rat.

Every four years another addition day is added to the year to adjust the calendar to keep the time aligned with the astronomical time, the time it takes for the earth to rotate around the Sun. A complete revolution around the Sun (one solar year) takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours. An extra 24 hours thus accumulates every four years, requiring that an extra calendar day be added to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions around the Sun's position. This adjustment is important to keep the seasons in calendar time and astronomical calculations in the correct positions. The actual time for the solar year is 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 16 seconds (365.2425 days).

Don’t forget to the addition day in February, and you can turn over the page on your calendar on Friday to the 1 March 2024.

I researched the history about Leap Day on the following internet sites, so check out these links if you would like to read more about 29 February.

February 29 - Wikipedia

Leap Year 2024 (timeanddate.com)

Leap Day Customs & Traditions (timeanddate.com)

Betty Matthews

23 February 2024