It’s a leap year!

As we head into another leap year this 2020, we look at the quirky facts behind this four-yearly event

Why do we have them?

An extra day has to be added to February because, while we have 365 days in our calendar, the Earth takes longer than that – 365 days and ¼ in fact – to fully rotate around our sun. Those quarter days need to be accounted for somewhere so they’re added up every four years to give one full extra day. Without this leap year, we’d actually lose six hours every year and after 100 years our calendar would be askew by nearly 24 days.

Over several hundred years, this means we could be enjoying summer in the middle of February as the seasons created by the Earth’s rotation would be out of sync with our monthly calendar.

But it’s interesting to note that it doesn’t completely solve the problem. That’s why every so often scientists have to pick a year to add an extra second to make everything add up. The last Leap Second took place in June 2015.

A time for traditions

One of the most popular leap year traditions is that – against convention – a woman can propose to a man on February 29. According to Irish legend, the custom began when St Brigid of Kildare proposed to St Patrick on February 29. Unfortunately, he rejected her and so began a tradition that any man who refuses on this day is expected to be fined either with a kiss, a silk dress or 12 pairs of gloves to hide the lady’s ringless finger.

Around the world

In Russia it’s believed that a leap year is likely to bring more freak weather patterns and greater risk to life, while in the US leap years almost always coincide with election years. Meanwhile for those born on a leap day – nicknamed ‘leaplings’ – there are different approaches around the world. For most countries, including the UK and Hong Kong, the legal birthday of a leapling is March 1, but in New Zealand it’s February 28, so if a leapling flew from one country to the other they could enjoy the world’s longest birthday!