It's a Leap Year! As today is February 29th we're also posting this blog on an extra day of the year that only comes around once every four years! We're sure you know that but what other traditions, superstitions and facts are there about our 'extra day'?
Thrive has compiled its favourite statistics, myths and unusual beliefs about February 29th for you to share with your networks!
1. Women can propose!
Yes, the most noted tradition about February 29th is that women can propose to their partners and its a sign of luck. Traditionally, men are supposed to propose.
This belief is noted across various dates and attributed to numerous historical figures and events, including:
a) In the 5th Century, a woman called Bridget allegedly complained to St Patrick that women had to wait too long for a proposal, so he gave women a single day in a leap year to pop the question.
b) Queen Margaret of Scotland is alleged to have brought in a law setting fines for men who turned down the proposals of females on a leap year.
c) It is also believed that it goes back to when leap year days weren't recognised by English law and therefore the day had no legal status. Therefore, the convention of a man proposing could be broken. [Source: BBC News]
2. Leap Day babies can enjoy their real birthday!
We all know someone who either was born on Leap Day or close enough that they repeat their joke that they could only be nine years old when they're actually 26 years old today. Many happy returns to those that finally get to celebrate their REAL birthday today!
3. St. Oswald's Day is celebrated today!
St. Oswald's Day celebrates the archbishop of York who died on February 22nd, 992. In common years, his memorial is celebrated on February 28th. [Source: timeanddate.com]
4. Blame the solar system!
An extra day every four years is actually necessary for the Solar System. As crazy as that might sound, one Earth year is equal to a complete orbit around the Sun and doesn't actually take an exact number of whole days. It takes 365.2422 days meaning we have to balance our calendar to suit. [Source: BBC News]
5. Why is February short anyway?
One of the lesser known facts about February and its extra day is that February used to have 30 days! Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus felt a little miffed that his predecessor Julius Caesar's month - July - had 31 days, whereas August had only 29. With this in mind, he chose to pinch those days from February to make August equal! [Source: BBC News]
6. Salem Witch Trial warrants were first issued on February 29th...
.The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. They resulted in a total of 20 executions, 14 of which were women and all but one were killed as a result of hanging.
Salem was settled in 1629 and English law made witchcraft a capital crime in 1641. From 1688 - 1692 there are reports of bizarre behaviour from numerous young girls in Salem. On February 29, 1962, warrants were issued for three women who were identified as to causing the strange behaviour - Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. [Source: University of Missouri - Kansas City]
7. No pay for some today!
If you're on a Fixed Annual Wage you're not getting paid for your day's work. As part of the Gregorian calendar way back in 1582, every four years we have a leap year and therefore we have an extra day to allow for the time it takes the Earth to travel around the sun. There is unlikely to be an allowance or extra income for this day if you're on an annual income. [Source: Executive PA]
8. It's rare to be a "leapling"!
The odds are set at one in 1461, with famous "leaplings" including Ja Rule (rapper), Lord Byron (poet), Darren Ambrose (footballer) and Sir Dave Brailsford (English cyclist and coach). Babies born on this day are known as "leaplings" or "leapers". [Source: Telegraph]
9. Without it we'd be having Christmas in a heatwave (maybe)!
The leap year keeps our modern day Gregorian calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions around the sun. Without leap days on February 29 every four years we'd lose six hours off the calendar every year. After only 100 years of this the calendar would be out by about 24 days.
What difference would this make? Eventually, we'd be celebrating Christmas, still on December 25th, but we might be experiencing the summer season, which might equal a heatwave... Unlikely, in the UK we know, but still...!
What might happen on February 29th?
Other than the knowledge you now have about working for free today (sorry), on the last leap day (2012) there were crashes and problems reported with Mozilla, Reddit, Foursquare, Yelp, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon who all rely on exact timings and use the Linux operating system and programmes written in Java.
Maybe your computer software will "go down" and your free working day will be an easy one!
