The leap year

Today’s article will be about the leap year which happened to be last year and it is a really fascinating phenomenon. It has both historical, cultural, and scientific aspects that we will be talking about soon. I was inspired to write this article from a reading that really caught my eye and I want to share with you all this useful information.

First of all, the annual orbit of the Earth around the sun does not last 365 days as it is usual. To be precise it lasts 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes and 9 seconds longer and that’s why sometimes February has one more day. The purpose of the leap year is to harmonize the tropical year with the everyday political year of the calendars and to avoid in the long run having Jannuary in summer and June in winter. The origin of the leap year goes way back. The final solution to this problem was found by Julius Caesar with the help of philosophers and mathematicians. They added certain days to the calendar each year in order to keep the measurement of time in line with the seasons. The Greek astronomer Sosigenes proposed adopting the calendar of Ptolemy III, that is the one in use today. The leap year got its name from the Romans. Between February 24th and 25th they added another day every 4 years, so they counted February 24th twice. Because February 24th is 6 days before March 1st, they called it a “leap year,” meaning the second sixth day before March. Over time the name was established for the entire year.  The Romans also decided to remove a day from February and move it to August to honour their Emperor. So this seems to be another reason why the second month of the year has one less day.

This caused many myths and rumors that were spread about its bad luck. It all began in 600 BC when the Romans ended up to celebrate the summer harvest festivals in winter time so they decided to reverse the situation.

Many cultures consider leap year as a bad sign. In Greece we share a similar opinion. We can see that from our culture. In Greek tradition, leap years are considered so unlucky that people avoid weddings, building a house, new professional activities, and generally long-term partnerships or relationships. Nevertheless, in some countries, leap years have a positive side. In Ireland, for example, on February 29th of every leap year, any Irish woman can  propose to her lover and he is obliged to accept. Actually, a movie was inspired by this custom called “leap year’. It is an romantic comedy whose ending fortunately I won’t spoil.

Last but not least some historians speculate that the 52 playing cards in the card deck are an evolution of an annual (weekly) calendar used by the Egyptians. The 52 cards completed a calendar year while the joker (as we call it today) was the 53rd card, representing the 366th day of a leap year and covering the odd number of 365 days.

To sum up, the leap year might seem as an insignificant phenomenon but it affects everything without even understanding it. The seasons will be different so will be the traditions and the function of the world. Each leap year has a great scientific, cultural, historical and even political value.