Leap Year

History 4 Minutes

I found an article on History.com detailing five things we may not know about Leap Year’s history.  See how much you already knew!

From History.com:

Nearly every four years, we add an extra day to the calendar in the form of February 29, also known as Leap Day. Put simply, these additional 24 hours are built into the calendar to ensure that it stays in line with the Earth’s movement around the sun.

While the modern calendar contains 365 days, the actual time it takes for Earth to orbit its star is slightly longer—roughly 365.2421 days. The difference might seem negligible, but over decades and centuries that missing quarter of a day per year can add up. To ensure consistency with the true astronomical year, it is necessary to periodically add in an extra day to make up the lost time and get the calendar back in synch with the heavens.

Many ancient calendars had entire leap months

Many calendars, including the Hebrew, Chinese and Buddhist calendars, are lunisolar, meaning their dates indicate the position of the moon as well as the position of Earth relative to the sun. Since there is a natural gap of roughly 11 days between a year as measured by lunar cycles and one measured by the Earth’s orbit, such calendars periodically require the addition of extra months, known as intercalary or interstitial months, to keep them on track.

Intercalary months, however, were not necessarily regular. Historians are still unclear as to how the early Romans kept track of their years, mostly because the Romans themselves may not have been entirely sure. It appears that the early Roman calendar consisted of ten months plus an ill-defined winter period, the varying length of which caused the calendar to become unpegged from the solar year.

Eventually, this uncertain stretch of time was replaced by the new months of January and February, but the situation remained complicated. They employed a 23-day intercalary month known as Mercedonius to account for the difference between their year and the solar year, inserting it not between months but within the month of February for reasons that may have been related to lunar cycles.

To make matters even more confusing, the decision of when to hold Mercedonius often fell to the consuls, who used their ability to shorten or extend the year to their own political ends. As a result, by the time of Julius Caesar, the Roman year and the solar year were thoroughly out of sync.

Julius Caesar introduced Leap Day, with help from the Egyptians…

The Mercedonius-when-we-feel-like-it system apparently irked Caesar, the general-turned-consul-turned-dictator of Rome who drastically altered the course of European history. In addition to conquering Gaul and transforming Rome from a republic into an empire, Caesar re-ordered the Roman calendar, giving us the blueprint off of which much of the world still operates to this day.

During his time in Egypt, Caesar became convinced of the superiority of the Egyptian solar calendar, which featured 365 days and an occasional intercalary month which was inserted when astronomers observed the correct conditions in the stars. Caesar and the philosopher Sosigenes of Alexandria made one important modification: instead of relying on the stars, they would simply add a day to every fourth year. In keeping with the Roman tradition of messing with the length of February, that day would fall in the second month of the year—thus Leap Day was born. Caesar added two extra-long months to the year 46 B.C.E. to make up for missed intercalations, and the Julian Calendar took effect on January 1st, 45 B.C.E.

…but their math was a little off

By the 16th century, scholars had noticed that time was still slipping—Caesar’s calculation that a year lasted 365.25 days was close, but still overestimated the solar year by 11 minutes. This was a problem for the Catholic Church, as the date of Easter had drifted away from its traditional place, the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox, by roughly ten days. Pope Gregory XIII commissioned a modified calendar, one which kept Leap Day but accounted for the inaccuracy by eliminating it on centurial years not divisible by 400 (1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years, but 2000 was). The introduction of the Gregorian Calendar marked the last change to the Western calendar as we know it today.

Experts note that the Gregorian calculation of a solar year—365.2425 days—is still not perfect, and thus another correction will be necessary. Thankfully, the Gregorian calendar is only off by about one day every 3,030 years, so mankind has some time before this becomes a problem.

Leap Day is often associated with marriage, proposals and flipping gender roles

Curiously, many Leap Day customs have revolved around romance and marriage. Tradition holds that in 5th-century Ireland, St. Bridget lamented to St. Patrick that women were not allowed to propose marriage to men. So legend has it that St. Patrick designated the only day that does not occur annually, February 29, as a day on which women would be allowed to propose to men. In some places, Leap Day thus became known as Bachelor’s Day.

This tradition hopped the Irish Sea to Scotland and England, where the British added a twist—if a man rejected a woman’s proposal, he owed her a debt of several pairs of fine gloves, perhaps to hide the fact that she did not have an engagement ring. In Greek tradition, however, it is considered bad luck to marry on Leap Day, and statistics suggest that Greek couples continue to take this superstition seriously.

People born on Leap Day are called ‘Leaplings’

There are only about 5 million people in the whole world who were born on February 29, with the odds of being born on Leap Day standing at about 1-in-1,461. Several famous people—including actress and singer Dinah Shore (born 1916), motivational speaker Tony Robbins (born 1960) and hip-hop artist Ja Rule (born 1976)—are leaplings. Leaplings technically only get to celebrate their birthdays once every four years, but they do get to be part of an elite group.

SOURCE: HISTORY.COM STEPHEN WOOD

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Published by pat frederick

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167 thoughts on “Leap Year”

    1. It was 33 when I got up, now up to 38 but the wind is supposed to be pretty strong later today. I always had a general idea of the history of leap view but never knew the details. Interesting! I came within a few days of it.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. we were out briefly–left early when it was dark. the return trip in the daylight was eye opening! we have 2 LARGE trees down on the property–one is right as you cross the stream coming in, but it’s not blocking the driveway at all–but the township may intervene and move it. it will definitely block the stream in the spring. The township was clearing another large tree on the side of the road just past our driveway as we came home.

    the other large tree is a pine tree. you can see it from the driveway in the woods, but it might be blocking the waterfall that is caused from the outfall of our pond. in the spring with heavy rains, it flows really fast and looks beautiful. but the pine is laying right across the top so we may have to somehow fix that or we’ll have water everywhere.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. oh there are tons of trees that come down on the property. if they are close enough that we can get them with the tractor and decent wood, we remove them for firewood. but the pine tree we can’t burn so we’ll cut it and just let it lie.

        that was why we decided to put the electric lines all underground.

        Liked by 1 person

  9. I’m not going to repeat all the articles I posted at M’s since you read there anyway. But I dropped a few this morning if you want to go look. BTW, don’t forget to watch Lara Logan’s interview…oh, wait, you can’t do that until tomorrow. Never mind!

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Switzerland

    Painting by Wang Ming Yue

    “Park the space speeder, throw up a tarp and read the paper. All that’s missing is a visit from the Swedish Bikini Team!”

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Yeah! I remembered to copy it and bring it here!

    “Rural America Set to Be Transformed by up to 55 Million-Acre Federal Solar Plan”
    By Kevin Stocklin, The Epoch Times,
    February 27, 2024

    EXCERPT: “Solar energy’s appetite for vast amounts of land has prompted the Biden administration to propose designating as much as 55 million acres of public lands as potential sites for industrial-scale solar farms. That’s an area larger than 36 states and similar in size to Idaho or Minnesota.

    An updated initiative by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), called the Western Solar Plan, proposes six alternatives for solar development. In the most aggressive of these scenarios, 55 million acres across 11 Western states would be made available for solar energy. The least aggressive alternative would designate 8 million acres for that purpose. The BLM’s “preferred alternative” falls halfway between the two, setting aside 22 million acres for solar development.

    In total, the BLM manages 162 million acres of public land designated as “multi-use.” These multiple uses include farming, ranching, hunting and fishing, hiking and camping, drilling, and mining—and more recently, wind and solar installations and transmission lines to connect them to the grid.

    The BLM, a division of the Department of the Interior, states that, in order to carry out the Biden administration’s goal of generating 25 gigawatts (GW) of electricity from wind and solar on public lands by 2025—and generating 100 percent “renewable” electricity by 2035—solar panels would need to be sited on 700,000 acres of public land.

    More than 3 million solar panels are required to produce 1 GW of electricity, according to the Department of Energy. One GW can power 500,000 to 750,000 homes on average, assuming a constant supply of energy generation and use.

    “The Interior Department’s work … is crucial to achieving the Biden–Harris administration’s goal of a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035,” Laura Daniel-Davis, acting deputy secretary of the Interior, said in a Jan. 17 statement….”

    https://archive.is/Z1tyx#selection-335.0-335.79

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Show this one to hubby, Pat!!! He might think twice about those bars he put up…

    “Coupla weeks ago I had my annual checkup. The doctor said my blood pressure 

    and everything else was fine, but that at my age I should think 

    seriously about maybe putting a bar in the shower for stability. 

    So I took her advice. So far so good…”

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Hmmmm….does that mean that today is Nebraska’s official birthday? Considering the official date is March 1, 1867….my ancestors were here before that….both adopted and birth families.

    Wiki:

    In late 1865 three scouts were sent from a German Lutheran settlement near Ixonia, Wisconsin, to find productive, inexpensive farmland that could be claimed under the Homestead Act. From the Omaha area they followed the Elkhorn River upstream to West Point. Finding that area too crowded, they continued up the river. On September 15, they reached the junction of the Elkhorn and its North Fork, and chose that area as a settlement site.[4]: 1–2  On May 23, 1866, a party of 124 settlers representing 42 families from the Ixonia area set out for northeast Nebraska in three wagon trains. They arrived at the new site on July 15.[4]: 8  A second group of settlers from Wisconsin arrived in July 1867.[4]: 19  These collective wagon parties established the first church in Madison County, St. Paul’s Lutheran, which is still operating today.[5][6]“

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Crazy stuff! Up to 54 here now, with strong winds – up to 30 MPH today, with possible gusts to 50. Hope the wind dies down by tomorrow….I’m going to Norfolk to p/u a few things and I’m stopping by Michael’s to use his burn barrel.

    I’ve got to start getting rid of these old banking docs from when I lived in VA; I still have some of my a-Mom’s records, too. I don’t have a shredder and I have sooooo much paper I need to get rid of….it would take me hours and hours!!! Likewise if I tried to burn it in my chimnea on the patio!! I’m giving that to my GS, when he finds the time to come and get it. We can’t burn here w/in the city limits and I don’t have any close friends on farms here any more who I could ask.

    Glen is in Las Vegas w/his wife at a conference but they’ll be home late tonight, so I can go by there, too. I’m putting my camera in my purse so I don’t forget it again. Of course, if I do that, I won’t see any worthy shots! Murphy’s Law being what it is….I’ve been holding off on taking pics because of Imgur’s major change in importing pics. But I’m gradually figuring it out.

    Liked by 1 person

  27. Little Julian Galloway is fighting cancer — just like his heroes fight crime.

    The cop-obsessed terminally-ill 8-year-old boy has been battling the brutal disease for more than half of his life, with a recent scan revealing new tumors, and that the existing ones on his brain were growing.

    But Julian, of Texas, was granted brief respite Tuesday — and given rare reasons to smile — as he launched into a whirlwind tour of the Big Apple organized by a non-profit police foundation.

    https://nypost.com/2024/02/27/us-news/texas-boy-with-terminal-cancer-to-be-sworn-in-as-nypd-officer/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Any time cancer is involved, and especially in children, I always feel anger that research into the use of CBD/MJ against cancer is being stifled. It has been shown to kill cancer cells in some rudimentary experiments. FFS, open it up!!! Fucking FDA/CDC, et al!

      Liked by 1 person

          2. there was a comment at wolfs i’ve been trying to find unsuccessfully that describes someone who’s beating their cancer diagnosis using that stuff…PAVACA would know if you’re interested

            Liked by 1 person

  28. Aw, shit – not surprising but still disappointing – a Federal judge has deep-six’ed Texas bill SB-4, set to go into effect next week, that would authorize them to arrest, jail and potentially deport illegal aliens – again, “…the state of TX cannot set up their own immigration system, that is up to the Federal government…” BS!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  36. Holy shit! Look at this, Pat! H/T M

    Liked by 1 person

  37. I think I finally found the perfect plant for underneath my willow tree – full or partial shade for this, which is what I need…and it’s a perennial.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I thought so! It will give some color out there. If the dark red Clematis does come back, it will grow/spread out on the glider – that will be a nice combination. It’s on the west end so it will get a good amount of afternoon sun.

        Like

  38. I am happy to report that our legislature is considering a bill this year to prevent foreigners from buying our farmland. Finally! Never would have happened under Ricketts, I’ll say that! At least Pillen is a NE-born veterinarian and livestock producer!

    Liked by 1 person

  42. i believe this jackass is from pa

    Liked by 1 person

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