Happy Leap Day!

Happy Leap Day!

Although strange, Leap Days play an important part in keeping our seasonal calendar straight. We count years as 365 days, but it actually takes 365.24219 days for the Earth to orbit the sun. That’s an extra 5 hours, 48 minutes and 56 seconds that goes unaccounted for. If we didn’t make up for this, our seasons would start to slip. In approximately 700 years, our summers would be in December! Therefore, the 29th February was added to adjust our calendar to coincide with the sidereal year (the orbital period of the earth around the sun).
However, the maths still isn’t quite right. The 0.24219 days equates to 23.262222 hours, not 24. So, by adding a whole extra day, we’re making the Leap Year about 44 minutes LONGER, which will also cause our calendar to defer from the seasonal calendar. To counteract this, not every year is a Leap Year! The rule is that if the year is divisible by 100, but not by 400, the Leap Year is skipped. So, in the years 1700, 1800 and 1900, it was skipped, but was resumed in 2000. The next time a Leap Year will get skipped is in 2100.

So, why February? Some think that February is gifted the extra day just because it is the shortest month of the year, but it’s not quite that simple. Leap Years date back to the Roman era, the foundation of our modern calendar. Initially, there were 10 months in the year, totalling 304 days. These were Martius (31), Aprilis (30), Maius (31), Junius (30), Quintilis (31), Sextilis (30), September (30), October (31), November (30), and December (30). The Romans elected to ignore the remaining 61 days of the year, of which left a gap in the middle of the winter season. It was ruler Numa Pompilius who then introduced January and February to the end of the calendar, bringing the year to 355 days. January was given 29 days and February 28, taking a day from the 4 months of 30 days to fulfil these numbers. This gave the months a total of 29 or 31 days, something Numa Pompilius did on purpose. It was Roman superstition that even numbers were bad luck, so he wanted as few in the calendar as possible. As February was the last month of the year, it need not matter that it had 28 days.
Even the addition of these two months hadn’t cleared up the Roman calendar, and it was still hopelessly confused. At a time where the calendar was based on lunar cycles and phases, the calendar was still about 10 ¼ days shorter than the solar year. Thus provoked the introduction of ‘Mercedonius’ (also known as Mercedinus or Intercalaris), an intercalary month of 27-28 days used every 2-3 years to realign the Roman calendar with the solar year. This was inserted between the 23rd and 24th February, bringing the year to 377 days. This quickly became politically mischievous and abused. The Pontifex Maximus (Latin for supreme pontiff) could determine the use of Mercedonius, which could be used to extend their own term or shorten that of his successor. This problem was exacerbated as the Republic crumbled.
Julius Caesar became Pontifex Maximus in 63 BC and used his position to reform the calendar in 46 BC. Inspired by the Egyptian fixed calendar, he made the year 365 days long, with an extra day every 4 years – and renamed Quintilis and Sextilis after himself and his adopted son, Augustus, whilst he was at it. This reform also saw the beginning of the year move from the 1st March to the 1st January, taking February from the 12th to the 2nd month. This was because January was named after Janus, the Roman God of all beginnings, so it was fitting this is where the year started.

Leap Years are full of tradition and superstition. For example, in Ireland, women are “allowed” to propose to men, and those who decline are penalised! In Greece, it is believed to be bad luck to be married during a leap year, so put those wedding plans on hold! Those born on the 29th February are referred to as ‘Leaplings’, and are considered unlucky in Scottish culture. They are predicted to have a year of “untold suffering”! However in Texas, they hold a 4 day long festival to honour them and celebrate the year.

How will you take advantage of your extra 24 hours this year? To make this day special, we are giving you 5% off all web shop orders with the code LEAPDAY24! Ts&Cs apply.

Valid from 00:00 to 23:59GMT on the 29.02.2024. Excludes clearance items and pre-slit strip