This February is a pretty special one…. No, we’re not talking about the Six Nations Rugby (although that is always pretty special!), but the fact that this year, we’ll have an extra day to enjoy the lovely month of February. Leap Year 2016 means that February will have 29 days, instead of the usual 28.

We all know that this happens every 4 years (or there abouts), but just why does it happen? Well, we measure our time in what is called the Gregorian Calendar. Most of the world uses this calendar, but there are variations – for example the Chinese calendar and the Hebrew calendar.

According to the Gregorian calendar, there are 12 months in a year – each month is of varying lengths – and the total days in all the months add up to 365 days in a year. The problem is that the astronomical calendar doesn’t quite match. In an astronomical year the earth orbits the sun – but it doesn’t happen in precisely 365 days, it takes slightly longer each year; a quarter of a day longer in fact. So, every four years this quarter of a day is added to the Gregorian calendar and stuck onto the end of February – because it is already the shortest month in the year.

The Gregorian calendar first came into use in 1582, and was named after Pope Gregory XIII. With this calendar (sometimes called the Christian Calendar or the Western Calendar), the Pope included changes to the date of Easter, and for working out the Lunar cycle.

And, did you know……

• that there are certain traditions surrounding the leap year day? Traditionally it’s considered fair for women to propose to men, but only on the 29th February – on all other days, the women should wait for the men to propose!! Although in Greek tradition, getting married any time during a leap year is considered unlucky…
• A person who was born on the 29th February in a leap year is called a “lapling” or a “leaper”.

So hopefully the sun will be shining on us all this February 29th, so we can thoroughly enjoy this extra day…. We’re wishing you a very happy Leap Year Day!

Image by Wojciech Bekiesz on freeimages.com