Today is Feb. 29, a leap day. The last one was in 2020, with something else dominating the headlines. Feels strange that the rumblings of a pandemic was already four years ago.
Unfortunately, the headlines aren’t any better this leap year, with wars dominating most news cycles. We can only hope by the next leap year, things are settled with more good news and optimism.
Having a leap year every four years is to keep the Gregorian calendar in sync with the seasons.
A normal year consists of 365 days but because the actual length of the time required for the earth to revolve once around the sun is actually 365.2425 days, a leap year of 366 days is used once every four years to eliminate the error caused by three normal, yet slightly short years.
Every year divisible by 4 is a leap year except every year divisible by 100 is not a leap year. Unless the year is also divisible by 400, then it is still a leap year.
An extra day was added to February because it is the shortest month.
The odds of being born on a leap day are low. There is a one in 1,461 chance of being a leap-day baby. Those born on a leap day are called leapers or leaplings. There are around 4 million people in the world celebrating a birthday today. Most people who are born on Feb. 29 will celebrate the day before when it isn’t a leap year. So if today is your birthday, happy real birthday!
Some cultures around the world deem this year to be bad luck.
According to an old Scottish aphorism, “leap year was ne’er a good sheep year.” And some Greeks believe this is an unlucky time to get married, as the union is doomed to end in divorce.
However, some say this is the best time to go shopping as retailers jump on the rarity of leap day by offering deals. Anything to make a buck, right? A lot of travel companies and cruise lines offer deals on Feb. 29.
If you are looking at a vacation, it might be worth a peak anyway.