In 2016, it’s a leap year. It is also known as an ‘intercalary year’ or a ‘bissextile year’. This means that in February, we will have 29 days (this additional day occurs every 4 years). Most of the western world works from the Gregorian Calendar (a modification of the Julian calendar used by the Romans and was based on lunar cycles)and was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, its history is based around celebrating Easter in spring.
The Earth does not orbit around the sun in exactly 365 days, so to fix this the leap day was created so that the calendar year is synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year. That way we will always have spring, summer, autumn and winter during the dates we are used to.
The term ‘leap year’ comes from the fact that we leap over a day. For example: Christmas day was on Wednesday in 2013, Thursday in 2014, Friday in 2015 and will ‘leap’ to Sunday in 2016, instead of being on Saturday.
There are other calendars that differ to the Gregorian calendar such as the Chinese calendar, the Hebrew calendar, Islamic calendar, Hindu calendar & Solar Hejri calendar and they calculate their leap year differently. If you are interested in finding out more, there is plenty of info on the web .
In Ireland and Britain, women can traditionally propose marriage in a leap year. Queen Margaret of Scotland, at age 5 in 1288 made it law that a fine was to be paid by the man if he declined the marriage proposal on leap year. The fine was a pair of leather gloves, a single rose, £1 and a kiss. Some people limit the day you can make a proposal to be on the 29th Feb itself. In Greece, it is unlucky to be married in a leap year.
In the USA, the 29th of February is known as ‘Sadie Hawkins Day’, which refers to the gender role reversal where a woman can propose to a man.
If your birthday was on the 29th of February, you are known as a ‘leapling’ or a ‘leaper’ and as your birthday date only comes every 4 years, you can claim to be only a quarter of your age! The date in which you celebrate your birthday will vary from country to country, but why not celebrate for 2 days (28 Feb & 1 Mar!)
