Alton, Mo. – Every four years we have an extra day. The extra day is called a leap day and the year is called a leap year. February 29, 2020, is a leap day.
A Leap Year
A leap year is a year that is 366 days long instead of 365. A leap year occurs every four years. The leap day is February 29 of the leap year. Any year evenly divisible by four is a leap year. The ancient Egyptians were the first people to discover that their calendar didn’t work without a leap year. Julius Caesar decided to simplify the calendar and added more days in different months to have a 365-day year in 45 B.C. Caesar did not actually do the calculations, but his astronomer Sosigenes did it. Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, further refined the calendar with the rule that a leap day would occur in any year divisible by four. [1]
Leap Year Trivia
Some things you might not have known about leap year are as follows: Anthony, Texas and Anthony, New Mexico claim the title “Leap Year Capital of the World.” [2] The year’s 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years even though you might think they were. Only on February 29 can women propose to a man and teenagers at public schools can ask a boy to dance. People born on leap day are called a “leaper” or “leapling.”
Notes:
- ^“Who Invented Leap Year?” ThoughtCo, 27 Feb. 2020, . (go back ↩)
- ^learning-liftoff-staff. “How to Celebrate Leap Year: Fun Facts and Leap Day Activities – Learning Liftoff.” Learning Liftoff, 26 Feb. 2016, . (go back ↩)
