Leap Year

So 2012 is a Leap Year – but what does that mean and why do we have them? Well the ancient Egyptians realised that the solar year and the calendar year do not match up. This is because it actually takes the earth 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to travel round the sun. So over the centuries an extra day was added to the calendar to keep us on track; it was the Romans who first designated February 29^th as the leap day, but it was the Gregorian calendar that fine-tuned the practise – so now a leap year only occurs in a year when it is divisible by 4, for example 2012, 2016, 2020…To make things more complicated it was decided that a leap year would not occur if it was devisable by 100 except if it was devisable by 400 – so 1900 was a leap year and 2000 was not.

Leap year babies only get to celebrate their birthday in a leap year on the proper day – 29^th February, the other years they either choose to celebrate on 28^th Feb or the 1^st March. Astrologers deem those Pisces born on the 29^th February as having unusual talents and personalities that reflect their special status.

But leap years are known more widely for a tradition that says a woman may propose marriage to her man on the 29^th February. It is thought this custom derived from Ireland in the 5^th century; when St Bridget complained to St Patrick about having to wait for the man to propose. St Patrick apparently relented and set aside this one day allowing the tables to be turned.

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