Tomorrow is Leap Day!!!

February always was the odd duck, being short a few days, but every four years we get to add a day and 2024 is that year!

The short explanation for why we need leap years is that our calendar needs to stay aligned with the astronomical seasons. A typical year is just a little over 365 days. More accurately, it is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 56 seconds, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Museum. That extra 5 hours 48 minutes and 56 seconds starts to add up and needs to be accounted for somehow. Hence, leap years… sort of. If we don’t account for this extra time, the seasons would begin to drift and soon summer would be in the middle of December. Without leap days, the calendar would be off by 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds more each year. After 100 years, the seasons would be off by 25 days! 

Are you a “leapling”, a person born on a leap day. Leap Day is the rarest birthday in the Gregorian calendar. I’m curious if you celebrate your birthday on February 28th or March 1st, on common years.

Leap Year Folklore, Role Reversal, and the Amish

According to Folklore, the weather always changes on Friday in a leap year.

According to old proverbs, Leap Year is not a good year sheep year.

I wouldn’t suggest getting married on a Leap Day, but if you are a girl who has been waiting for THAT guy to ask you out, this is your day!!! Not sure Julius Caesar considered how much romance would be wrapped around the day he first adopted in 45 BCE (Before Common Era).

One common Leap Day tradition, thanks to our Scottish and Irish ancestors, we have “Ladies Privilege Day”, a day when women are free to get down on one knee and propose to men. Men, beware, there are some strict rules out there if you decline her offer.

I’m sure many of you remember Sadie Hawkin’s Days, where you could ask the boy to the dance. Even the Amish consider leap day a day to switch it up, and girls ask guys to attend a gathering or take that long ride home. I know a few young Amish fellas right now hoping for a bold invite.

Many feel that to be born on Leap Day, thereby becoming a “leapling,” is a sign of good luck, while some believe Leap Day is bad luck. After all, Rome burned and the Titanic sank during Leap Years. But the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Benjamin Franklin proved lightning is electricity, and gold was discovered in California during Leap Years too.

How will you be spending your leap day? I’ll be watching one of my favorite romantic comedies, Leap Year! Maybe take Mr. Steele out on a date. Do you have a favorite Leap Year memory? Are you a Leapling? Please share!