You may not have noticed, but we have an extra day this month. Leap Day, February 29, is this Saturday. For most of us, it’s just another day, but it’s existence is what keeps our solar calendar in sync with the earth’s orbit around the sun. So let’s do some calendrical history.

The Ancient Romans used a lunar, rather than a solar, calendar. Lunar months are about 29.5 days long, with years of only 354 days. Without adjustments, the Roman calendar failed to mesh with the seasons.

Contemporary Egyptians, on the other hand, used a calendar that divided the year into 12 months with 30 days each. At the end, they added five days of festivals, both for enjoyment and to keep the calendar in tune with the seasons.

By the time Julius Caesar met Cleopatra in 48 BCE, the Roman lunar calendar had diverged from natural seasons by about three months. By then, the Egyptians had developed a 365 day year with a leap year every four years.

Two years later, Caesar issued a new calendar known as the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar declared a year to be 365.25 days, with a leap day every fourth year to keep the calendar in tune with the seasons. In order to shift to the new calendar, Caesar ordered a single 445 day long Year of Confusion to correct the drift, and then enacted the new calendar.

That worked for over 100 years, but there was a discrepancy. The Julian calendar called for a technical year of 365.25 days, but the actual extra time was 365.242 which meant that the calendar year was 11 minutes shorter than the solar year. Which isn’t much, but after 128 years the solar calendar and the Julian calendar diverged by an entire day.

This wasn’t initially noticeable. But by the 16^th century the drift reached a point where important days, like Christmas, had moved about 10 days. Tsk. Tsk.

Pope Gregory XIII decided to get Christmas back where it was supposed to be, and instituted a revised Gregorian calendar in 1582. This one has leap years every four years, except when a year is evenly divisible by 100, but not by 400. For example, the year 1900 would have been a leap year, but 1900 / 100 = 19. By comparison, 2020 / 100 = 20.2 so we’ll go ahead with Leap Year on Saturday.

Leap Day Dilemmas

Leap Days bring up interesting situations. For example, if you’re born on February 29, when do you celebrate your birthday? Either February 28 or March 1. But . . . 

Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance is built around a character named Frederick. Frederick’s family inadvertently apprenticed him to a group of pirates until his 21^st birthday. But, when the day arrives, he finds out he was actually born in February 29, so though he’s reached his 21^st year, he won’t be officially 21 for another 63 years. Thus the musical launches its improbably silliness.

In the past, Leap Day was also an occasion of unusual marriage proposals. An Irish tradition says that St. Bridget asked St. Patrick to allow women to propose marriage to their suitors, because some men were too timid to propose. St. Patrick didn’t like the idea, but said women could make a proposal on Leap Day. Legend has it that St. Bridget immediately proposed to St. Patrick who declined, but kissed her on the cheek and gave her a silk gown.

The custom grew that women could propose marriage on Leap Day, and if the man refused, he must give her a silk gown, or, in some cases, 12 pairs of gloves so she can hide the embarrassment of a hand without a wedding ring. 

That custom, needless to say, has fallen out of use.

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February from Tres Riches Heures du duc de Berry 15th century.

Cleopatra

Julius Caesar. Photo by Angel M. Felicisimo. Bust may be the only surviving bust made during Caesar’s lifetime.

Sun and planets by WP

St. Bridget and St. Patrick windows at St. Peter’s Church, Yorks by Jules & Jenny

Evan Andrews. “Why do we have leap year?” History. Aug 22, 2018.

Brian Handwerk. “The Surprising History Behind Leap Year.” National Geographic. Feb. 26, 2014.

The post Jumpin’ Jiminy: It’s Leap Year first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

Every four years the calendar has a hic-cup, otherwise known as February 29th, the Leap Day in a Leap Year. It appears that no one knows quite what to do with that extra day. For most of us, it will be a day filled with our usual activities. But for some people, February 29th has an unusual personal meaning. (If you’re wondering about the calendric notation on the left, keep reading.)

One of the most obvious issues affects those individuals born on February 29, generally referred to as “leaplings” or “leapers.” Presently about 5 million people world wide share this distinction. At one time astrologers thought leapers had unusual talents, or even special powers. Much of the plot of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance is built around Frederic, who was born on February 29. Thus “though you’ve lived twenty-one years, yet, if we go by birthdays, you’re only five and a little bit over!”

Leap Year is inauspicious for Scottish shepherds who coined the phrase: “Leap year was ne’er a good sheep year.”

In Greece it’s considered unlucky to marry in a Leap Year.

“Be careful, Clara. That’s a fine specimen!”

The most famous association with Leap Year is the custom of allowing women to propose marriage to men. There’s some variation as to whether they have the entire year to propose, or whether the event must take place on the day itself. But there’s nothing to prevent the earlier acquisition of a potential groom, as the 1908 postcard above illustrates.

According the legend this custom resulted from a conversation between the Irish saints St. Brigid and St. Patrick. Brigid complained that men took too long to propose marriage. Patrick declared that women could take fate into their own hands and make a marriage proposal on February 29. Some say that Brigid then proposed to Patrick, but it must not have been the right day, because no marriage took place.

Irish monks took the custom to Scotland. In 1188 Queen Margaret allegedly passed a law declaring that women could make marriage proposals during leap years. And any man refusing the proposal would have to pay a fine. The queen did leave a loophole. The law required any woman planning to propose marriage must wear either a red petticoat (an outward garment like a skirt), or breeches. Either choice of apparel would give potential grooms fair warning of what was in the lady’s mind. Hence the day calendric note to “wear red petticoat.”

Care for a Leap Year Cocktail?

Proposing marriage can be a nerve-wracking experience. It could be helpful to indulge in a Leap Year Cocktail before doing the deed. This recipe is taken from the Boulder Locavore.

For one cocktail, combine the following ingredients with ice,

shake and pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

2 ounces of gin
1/2 an ounce of Grand Marnier
1/2 an ounce of Sweet Vermouth
1/4 ounce of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Once fortified, proceed with the calendric instruction:

Propose to the Love of my Life.

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Featured Image: Calendar Day: February 29. Photo by Author.

Pictures:

“Cute Hat eigh??” by Yarin Jeremy Kirchen. Creative Commons Attribution. Wikimedia Commons.

“Confrontational Sheep on Whin Loan.” By Chris Upson. Creative Commons Attribution. Wikimedia Commons.

“Be Careful, Clara, That’s a Fine Specimen!” 1908 Postcard. U. S. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

“St. Brigid of Kildare.” U. S. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

“Leap Year: 10 Things About 29 February. BBC Magazine. Mar. 1 2012.

Toni Dash. “Leap Year Cocktail, History, Traditions and Superstitions!” Boulder Locavore. Feb. 29, 2012.

Julie McCaffrey. “16 Leap Year Facts for 2016.” Mirror.com. Jan. 1, 2016.

James O’Shea “2006 is a Leap Year – That Means Women Can Ask Men to Marry Them.” IrishCentral.com. 19, 2016.

The post PLAN NOW FOR LEAP DAY TRADITIONS first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.