The "leap day" of 29 February exists for purely
astronomical reasons, but has always prompted
less scientific curiosities.
Here are 10 things to consider - for one day only.
Until 2016, that is.



1. The leap year's extra day is necessary because
of the "messiness" of our Solar System. One
Earth year (a complete orbit around the Sun)
does not take an exact number of whole days
(one complete spin of the Earth on its axis). In
fact, it takes 365.2422 days, give or take.



2. Until Julius Caesar came to power, people
observed a 355-day calendar - with an extra 22-
day month every two years. But it was a
convoluted solution to the problem and feast
days began sliding into different seasons. So
Caesar ordered his astronomer, Sosigenes, to
simplify things. Sosigenes opted for the 365-day
year with an extra day every four years to scoop
up the extra hours. This is how the 29 February
was born. It was then fine-tuned by Pope Gregory
XIII (see below).



3. Every fourth year is a leap year, as a rule of
thumb. But that's not the end of the story. A year
that is divisible by 100, but not by 400, is not. So
2000 was a leap year under the Gregorian
calendar, as was 1600. But 1700, 1800 and 1900
are not leap years. "It seems a bit arbitrary," says
Ian Stewart, emeritus professor of mathematics
at Warwick University. But there's a good reason
behind it.
"The year is 365 days and a quarter long - but
not exactly. If it was exactly, then you could say
it was every four years. But it is very slightly
less." The answer arrived at by Pope Gregory XIII
and his astronomers when they introduced the
Gregorian calendar in 1582, was to lose three
leap days every 400 years. The maths has hung
together ever since. It will need to be rethought
in about 10,000 years' time, Stewart warns. But
by then mankind might have come up with a new
system.



4. Why is February 29, not February 31, a leap
year day? All the other months have 30 or 31
days, but February suffered from the ego of
Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus, says Stewart.
Under Julius Caesar, February had 30 days, but
when Caesar Augustus was emperor he was
peeved that his month - August - had only 29
days, whereas the month named after his
predecessor Julius - July - had 31. "He pinched a
couple of days for August to make it the same as
July. And it was poor old February that lost out,"
says Prof Stewart.



5. The tradition of a woman proposing on a leap
year has been attributed to various historical
figures. One, although much disputed, was St
Bridget in the 5th Century. She is said to have
complained to St Patrick that women had to wait
too long for their suitors to propose. St Patrick
then supposedly gave women a single day in a
leap year to pop the question - the last day of the
shortest month. Another popular story is that
Queen Margaret of Scotland brought in a law
setting fines for men who turned down marriage
proposals put by women on a leap year. Sceptics
have pointed out that Margaret was five years old
at the time and living far away in Norway. The
tradition is not thought to have become
commonplace until the 19th Century.
It is believed that the tradition of women
proposing on this day goes back to the times
when the leap year day was not recognised by
English law. Under this theory, if the day had no
legal status, it was acceptable to break with the
convention of a man proposing.



6. A prayer has been written by a female cleric for
people planning a leap year day marriage
proposal. The prayer, for 29 February, asks for
blessings on the engaged couple. It reminds them
that wedding plans should not overtake
preparations for a lifetime together. The prayer
has been taken from Pocket Prayers of Blessing
by the Venerable Jan McFarlane, Archdeacon of
Norwich:
"God of love, please bless N and N as they prepare
for the commitment of marriage. May the plans for
the wedding not overtake the more important
preparation for their lifetime together. Please bless
their family and friends as they prepare for this
special day and may your blessing be upon them
now and always. Amen."



7. The practice of women proposing in a leap year
is different around the world. In Denmark, it is
not supposed to be 29 but 24 February, which
hails back to the time of Julius Caesar. A refusal
to marry by Danish men means they must give
the woman 12 pairs of gloves. In Finland, it is
not gloves but fabric for a skirt and in Greece,
marriage in a leap year is considered unlucky,
leading many couples to avoid it.



8. The chance of being born on a leap day is often
said to be one in 1,461. Four years is 1,460 days
and adding one for the leap year you have 1,461.
So, odds of 1/1,461.
But Stewart points out that is very slightly out,
owing to the loss of the three leap years every
400 years. In any case, babies are more likely to
be born at certain times of the year rather than
others, due to a range of other factors, he says.
Babies born on 29 February are known as
"leapers" or "leaplings".



9.Other calendars apart from the Gregorian require
leap years. The modern Iranian calendar is a
solar calendar with eight leap days inserted into
a 33-year cycle. The Indian National Calendar and
the Revised Bangla Calendar of Bangladesh
arrange their leap years so that the leap day is
always close to 29 February in the Gregorian
calendar.



10.Explorer Christopher Columbus used the lunar
eclipse of 29 February 1504 to his advantage
during his final trip to the West Indies. After
several months of being stranded with his crew
on the island of Jamaica, relations with the
indigenous population broke down and they
refused to continue helping with food and
provisions. Columbus, knowing a lunar eclipse
was due, consulted his almanac and then
gathered the native chiefs on 29 February. He
told that God was to punish them by painting the
Moon red. During the eclipse, he said that God
would withdraw the punishment if they started
co-operating again. The panicked chiefs agreed
and the Moon began emerging from its shadow.
Also of a supernatural nature, on 29 February
1692 the first warrants were issued in the Salem
witchcraft trials in Massachusetts.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17203353

Nearly every four years, we add an extra day to the calendar in the form of February 29, also known as Leap Day. Put simply, these additional 24 hours are built into the calendar to ensure that it stays in line with the Earth’s movement around the Sun. While the modern calendar contains 365 days, the actual time it takes for Earth to orbit its star is slightly longer—roughly 365.2421 days. The difference might seem negligible, but over decades and centuries that missing quarter of a day per year can add up. To ensure consistency with the true astronomical year, it is necessary to periodically add in an extra day to make up the lost time and get the calendar back in synch with the heavens.

1. Many ancient calendars had entire leap months
Many calendars, including the Hebrew, Chinese and Buddhist calendars, are lunisolar, meaning their dates indicate the position of the Moon as well as the position of Earth relative to the sun. Since there is a natural gap of roughly 11 days between a year as measured by lunar cycles and one measured by the Earth's orbit, such calendars periodically require the addition of extra months, known as intercalary or interstitial months, to keep them on track.

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