February 29th, 2012
by Jennie Jacobs
Happy Leap Year my wild web friends. To break up my normal healthy marketing blog routine I thought I would stop and share some delightful facts about leap year, since it is quite interesting. For those of you who live in a cave, leap year is when we celebrate an extra day , of the year, February 29th. But do you know why?
Apparently there are actually a smidge more to our days in the year then we normally think. While standard issue knowledge says we have 365 days in the year, in all actuality the earth rotates about 365 and a quarter times by the time it has fully orbited the sun. As such our calendar needs to keep up, and hence, roughly every four years, we have leap years – 366 days in a year. Funzies!
Take a leap!
Now that we have wrapped that little knowledge nugget up in our brains let’s get to some fun facts:
- Persons born on leap day, February 29, are called “leaplings” or “leapers.” Kind of a cute name, but unfortunately for all of the birthday cake lovers out there, that means celebrating 75% fewer than the rest of us (bummer!) source
- There is a leap year every year divisible by four except for years which are both divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400. Therefore, the year 2000 was a leap year, but the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not. Weird. source
- Apparently the ancient Egyptians were the smarties who figured out that the solar year wasn’t matching up with our calendars. source
- Bust out the ring ladies! Tradition says that leap years grant women the “privilege” of proposing to their prospective husbands! This tradition dates back at least four centuries. source
- International women’s soccer will be meeting to compete today in the kick-off of the Algarve Cup in Portugal. Let’s get some goals ladies! source
- The chances of a leap year birthday: 1 in 1,461 source
- Old Scottish saying “Leap year was never a good sheep year” highlights the superstition surrounding leap years claiming they would throw nature off its course. source
- Famous (and random) Birthday: 1972 — Antonio Sabato Jr., Italian-born soap star whose credits include The Bold and the Beautiful, Melrose Place and General Hospital. source
How do you plan on celebrating the extra day this year? I would love to hear it in the comments below or share with me on Twitter @jenniejacobs
