Leap day legend, lore and how it was added to calendar

Leap day is what happens when we rely on dictators like Julius Caesar to solve problems. It’s hit and miss — and then you circle back to the same issue every four years or so.

While Caesar, the dominating leader of the Roman Empire and father of leap day, is long, long gone, his ancient calendar lives on. And with good reason — it sorta works, most of the time.

Here’s a look at some of the legend and lore of leaping.

Why do we have leap day?

Basically, our calendar year is determined by how long it takes for the Earth to rotate around the sun. That number is not a perfect 365 days — it’s actually 365.2422, according to NASA, tacking on an extra six hours to every year. To keep equinoxes and solstices in check and the seasons aligned, we add the 24 hours we’ve accumulated over four years by notching an extra day in the calendar month of February. So 2024 is a leap year and Feb. 29 is leap day.

Does leap day always happen every four years?

As a matter of fact — it doesn’t. As sometimes happens, there’s a bit of a rounding error in our math and going from 0.2422 to 0.25 actually messes with time. Let NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory explain: “Rounding up and inserting a 24-hour leap day every four years adds about 45 extra minutes to every fouryear leap cycle. That adds up to about three days every 400 years. To correct for that, years that are divisible by 100 don’t have leap days unless they’re also divisible by 400.” So, you can scratch leap day from your 2100 calendar.

What other calendars have leap days or years?

The Hebrew calendar includes a leap year, as do Buddhist and Chinese calendars. But not all of the calendars add a day — some will include a leap month. For example, the Hebrew or Jewish calendar in 2024 is marking a leap year, which will have 13 months and will occur seven times over a 19-year period. (The Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, meaning it’s based on the positions of both the moon and the sun.)

How many people are born on leap day?

It’s estimated about 5 million people celebrate their birthday on leap day, a whopping 0.1% of the planet’s population. So it’s an exclusive group. Some celebrities who are leaplings include rap star Ja Rule, who turns 48 in regular years on Feb. 29, and motivational speaker Tony Robbins, who will turn 64. The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies hosts a leap-centric page on Facebook, where it has over 5,000 followers, and an online countdown for the special day.

How is leap day celebrated?

A small town in Texas counts itself as the “Leap Year Capital of the World.” Many folks who are born on Feb. 29 — leaplings — are drawn to the Anthony Texas Leap Year Festival for a onceevery-four-years birthday bash with live music, crafts, vendors, eats and more. This year, the event takes place after leap day on March 1-2.

In Maryland, several places will offer leap day specials. Leaplings can score a free short stack of pancakes at Miss Shirley’s Cafe on Feb. 29. (Valid photo ID required, of course.) The Greene Turtle is offering 29-cent wings and $2.29 domestic pints all day long. Book an overnight stay at Great Wolf Lodge Maryland for $29 per person when you make your reservation on leap day and use the code LEAP. Orioles fans can take advantage of a leap day flash sale and buy tickets to any home game without paying any fees. Use code: NOFEES (Don’t leap too quick: The offer does not include Opening Day tickets.)

So, does everyone agree leap day is necessary?

Not at all. Some find it unnecessary. Two Johns Hopkins professors have suggested a new calendar that would not change from year to year and would eliminate leap years. The HankeHenry Permanent Calendar proposal from Steve H. Hanke, a Hopkins economist, and Richard Conn Henry, a Hopkins astrophysicist, would start every year on a Monday, that way every day would fall the same way each year. A week would be added to the calendar every five or six years to keep up with the Earth’s rotation.

“You don’t ever have to buy a new calendar,” Steve H. Hanke told The Sun in 2020.

Now, that’s a leap.