A leap year has 366 days, with February 29 as an extra day, occurring every four years to keep the calendar in sync with the solar year. The tradition of women proposing on February 29 dates back to ancient Ireland. Those born on February 29 are called “jumpers” and special adjustments are made for them.
A leap year is a year that has one extra day. In the Gregorian calendar, the standard calendar for most of the world, common years have 365 days. A leap year, however, has 366 days, with the extra day designated as February 29. A leap year generally occurs every four years in years evenly divisible by four.
The leap year was originally designed to keep the solar year in sync with the solar year, or the time it takes the earth to complete its orbit around the sun. Since the solar year is about a quarter of a day longer than the solar year, the seasons will not match the calendar after many years have passed. The Gregorian calendar was specifically created to keep the vernal equinox, or the time when the sun is directly above the earth’s equator, as close to March 21 as possible so that Easter celebrations coincide with the equinox.
The idea of adding a leap year to the calendar is nothing new. Egyptian ruler King Ptolemy III first added an extra day to the year in 238 BC. The Romans later adopted this solution for their calendar in order to keep the changes of the seasons correct. In other ancient cultures, it was customary to have lunar calendars with twelve months to a year. To align the calendar with the seasons, a thirteenth month, known as the “leap month”, was inserted every two or three years. Many countries, including Asia, still use such calendars.
The day of February 29, commonly called a leap day, has long been associated with particular superstitions and traditions. In Scotland, for example, it has always been considered extremely unfortunate for someone to be born on a leap day. In Greece it is still believed that getting married in a leap year means nothing but bad luck for the couple.
The most popular leap year tradition, however, dates back to times when courtship rules were extremely strict. In many cultures, women were only allowed to propose to men on the rare date of February 29th. On this day, sometimes referred to as “Bachelors Day,” a man had to pay a penalty such as a kiss, a pair of silk gloves, or a monetary fine if he refused a woman’s offer of marriage.
The origins of this tradition most likely stem from the ancient Irish folktale which tells of St. Bridget striking a deal with St. Patrick to allow women to propose to men once every four years. This old custom may have been used to balance the traditional male and female roles just as the leap day is used to balance the calendar. In the United States, some people call Leap Day “Sadie Hawkin Day” after a chronically unmarried woman in the popular comic Li’l Abner.
Leap day is considered to be a very special day for those ‘jumpers’ and ‘crossbowmen’ born on February 29th. There is much debate as to whether these birthdays should be celebrated on February 28 or March 1. Many jumpers, however, only celebrate their birthday during official leap years because they believe there is no substitute for a February 29 birthday. Most countries make special adjustments for those born on leap day so that they can be considered fit for driving, marriage and other activities that require a legal age.
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