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A leap year occurs every four years and adds a day at the end of February. The month only has twenty-eight days but has a twenty-ninth every four years. So, for the year, there are three hundred sixty-six days in 2024 instead of three hundred sixty-five. Read more to fully understand the mysteries behind leap years, exploring the rationale and significance of this time adjustment.

What is the Purpose of a Leap Year?

It takes a year for a planet to be around its star one time. For the planet Earth, it takes one year for it to orbit around the sun. On the other hand, a day is the time it takes a planet to complete a rotation on its axis. Earth takes approximately three hundred sixty-five days, six hours to orbit the sun, and twenty-four hours to rotate on its axis. Due to this, the number of days is not exact, so the number of days in a year is rounded to three hundred sixty-five. For the other parts of the day to not disappear, a leap year is experienced every four years. 

What is the Simple Definition of ‘Leap Year’? 

One might ask, “What does leap year mean?” To keep things simple, a leap year adds a day in February every four years. It is because the population doesn’t lose a day since our years are generally rounded to three hundred sixty-five days. 

Is a Leap Year Every Four Years?

Yes, leap years occur every four years. On how to calculate leap years, all you have to do is take the current year and see if it’s divisible by four. One can also look up the previous leap year and add four more years to it to know when the next leap year is.

Based on the explanation above, it is essential to add a day every four years because if this isn’t followed, humanity will be behind ten days in forty years. Being behind ten days in the next forty years would mean that there would be different beginnings in every season. 

Is 2024 a Leap Year and Why?

Yes, 2024 is a leap year since the last one was during 2020. This year’s leap day is certainly to be celebrated since this is the first leap day since the pandemic. While the full effect of the pandemic on the world didn’t become fully evident until March 2020, many places had already been facing the effects of the illness.

What Happens to Individuals Born on Leap Day?

If the leap year itself is the entire year with an added day, a leap day is the specific added date, February 29. There are roughly five billion across the globe who celebrate their birthdays on the added day of the year. These individuals usually celebrate their birth during non-leap years on February 28 or March 1. Here’s a list of individuals born on leap day:

• Gioachino Rossini (Composer; 1792)
• William Wellman (Film Director; 1896)
• Jimmy Dorsey (Band Leader; 1904)
• James Mitchell (Ballet Dancer; 1920)
• Alex Rocco (Actor from “The Godfather”; 1936)
• Aileen Wuornos (Notable True Crime Name; 1956)
• Tony Robbins (Notable Speaker; 1960)
• Ja Rule (Rapper; 1976)

Is There A Time When a Leap Year is Skipped?

In 1900, humanity did not observe a leap year, breaking the usual pattern of occurring every four years. By consistently following leap years every four years, humanity is missing one day for every one hundred twenty-eight years.

This concept of time was originally started in Julius Caesar’s time, and it was called the “Julius Calendar”. However, the discrepancy of following this every four years showed missing a day every one hundred twenty-eight years. Pope Gregory XIII then revised the calendar and called it the “Gregorian Calendar”.

So, what does this mean? This error showed that a leap year should not only be divisible by four but also only considered if it’s divisible by one hundred if it can also be divided by four hundred. It means that 1800 and 2100 are not leap years. However, 2000 was. 

Why are Leap Years Important?

Date adjustments are necessary because they match the calendar year with the solar year. The 366 days in 2024 allow us to adapt to the solar year because our days are rounded down to 365 days and 6 hours. Though this might not seem significant, if humanity constantly follows three hundred sixty-five days a year, we would consistently subtract six hours yearly. Not following the concept of leap years would lead to us experiencing the different seasons at different points of the year.

Is Earth the Only Planet that Adapts this Concept?

A fun fact is that every planet in the solar system does not linearly rotate the sun and its axis. Each planet in the solar system rotates at different speeds and varying lengths of days. Mercury’s single day specifically takes one hundred seventy-six days on Earth. On the other hand, Venus takes one hundred seventeen Earth days to rotate its axis completely and moves in a different direction than the other planets. 

Another solar system refresher is how Uranus is almost completely tipped to its side. The planet experiences its northern summers; the sun directly hits its north pole. On the other hand, its winters are in complete darkness since it takes eighty-four Earth years for Uranus to orbit the sun completely.

Are There Other Leap Year Facts?

Certainly! Did you know that there is a tradition of women proposing to men on February 29? This custom is rooted in St. Bridget’s complaint to St. Patrick that some women wait too long for their suitors to get down on one knee and ask for their hand in marriage. St. Patrick supposedly told St. Bridget that it was okay for women to pop the question on leap day.

If there are beliefs about women proposing to men on February 29 in Denmark, if a man rejects a leap-year proposal, it will cost him. The rule in Denmark when a man leaves a proposal on this specific day is that he must give the woman a dozen pairs of gloves. On the other hand, Finland says that the man must give the woman enough fabric to create a skirt.

A last fun fact is that there are cities that claim to be the capitals of leap years. These cities are Anthony, Texas, and Anthony, New Mexico. Both cities celebrate a four-day leap year festival, which includes an enormous birthday party for all leap day babies, requiring celebrants to submit an ID. Talk about a tale of two cities!

Conclusion

Indeed, there are three hundred sixty-six days in 2024 to be celebrated by everyone. The additional day at the end of February is for everybody to enjoy and self-reflect for an even better and more fruitful year ahead. May this year be another year of abundance, joy, and blessings.

Sources: (1), (2), (3), (4)

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Also Read: New Year Resolutions: A Student’s Guide to Personal Growth and Achievement