February 29 Totally Explained

Everything about Leap Day totally explained

February 29 is a date that occurs only every four years, in years evenly divisible by 4, such as 1988, 1996, 2008 or 2016 (with the exception of century years not divisible by 400, such as 1900) for the Gregorian calendar, which is most widely used in the world today. These are called leap years, and February 29 is the 60th day of the Gregorian calendar in such a year, with 306 days remaining until the end of that year. February 29 is also known as bissextile day or Leap Day.

Leap years

Although the modern calendar counts a year as 365 days, a complete revolution around the sun takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours. Every four years, an extra twenty-four hours have accumulated, so one extra day is added to that calendar to keep the count coordinated with the sun's apparent position.
   A century year, which ends in two zeros, isn't a leap year unless it's also evenly divisible by 400. This means that 1600 and 2000 were leap years, and 2400 and 2800 will also be, 1800 and 1900 were not, and the years 2100 and 2200 won't be leap years. To correct a slight inaccuracy that remains (it isn't exactly six hours extra), it has been proposed that years evenly divisible by 4,000 shouldn't be leap years; but this rule hasn't been officially adopted.
   A leap day is more likely to fall on a Monday than on a Sunday. This is because the Gregorian calendar repeats itself every 400 years, which is exactly 20871 weeks including 97 leap days. Over this period February 29 falls thirteen times on a Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday; fourteen times on a Friday or Saturday; and fifteen times on a Monday or Wednesday.
   The concepts of the leap year and leap day are distinct from the leap second, which results from changes in the Earth's rotational speed.
   The leap day was introduced as part of the Julian reform. The day following the Terminalia (23 February) was doubled, forming the so-called "bis sextum". The first day of the bis sextum (February 24) came to be regarded as the intercalated or "bissextile" day. February 29 came to be regarded as the leap day when the Roman system of numbering days was replaced by sequential numbering in the late Middle Ages.
   An English law of 1256 decreed that in leap years, the leap day and the day before are to be reckoned as one day for the purpose of calculating when a full year has passed. Thus, in England and Wales a person born on February 29 legally reaches the age of 18 or 21 on February 28 of the relevant year. In the European Union, February 29 officially became the leap day only in 2000.
   There is a tradition that women may make a proposal of marriage to men only in leap years, further restricted in some cases to only February 29. There is a tradition that in 1288 the Scottish parliament under Queen Margaret legislated that any woman could propose in Leap Year; few parliament records of that time exist, and none concern February 29. Another component of this tradition was that if the man rejects the proposal, he should soften the blow by providing a kiss, one pound currency, and a pair of gloves (some later sources say a silk gown). There were similar notions in France and Switzerland. Generally, these traditions are considered urban legends (see ).
   In France, there's a humorous periodical called La Bougie du Sapeur (The Sapper's Candle) published every February 29 since 1980. The name is a reference to the sapper Camembert. The eighth issue will be published in 2008.

Events

1504 - Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
1704 - Queen Anne's War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 100 men, women, and children.
1712 - February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.
1720 - Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I.
1780 - The Omicron Delta Omega fraternity was founded by Benjamin Franklin at James Madison University.
1864 - American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails - plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
1892 - St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
1916 - Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old.
1932 - TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William "Alfalfa" Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.
1936 - Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
1940 - For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
1940 - Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations
1940 - In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco.
1944 - World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.
1952 - The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
1956 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces to the nation that he's running for a second term.
1960 - An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country.
1960 - Family Circus makes its debut.
1964 - In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).
1972 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
1972 - Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract.
1980 - Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
1984 - Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he'll retire as soon as the Liberals can elect another leader.
1988 - South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town
1996 - A Peruvian Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing 123 people.
2004 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.

Births

A person who was born on February 29 may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they may celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March.
For legal purposes, their legal birthdays depend on how different laws count time intervals. In England and Wales the legal birthday of a leapling is 28 February in common years (see Leap Years, above). In Taiwan the legal birthday of a leapling is also February 28 in common years. In both cases, a person born on February 29, 1980 would have legally reached 18 years old on February 28, 1998. � "If a period fixed by weeks, months, and years doesn't commence from the beginning of a week, month, or year, it ends with the ending of the day which proceeds the day of the last week, month, or year which corresponds to that on which it began to commence. But if there's no corresponding day in the last month, the period ends with the ending of the last day of the last month."

There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out to be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance: As a child, Frederic was apprenticed to a band of pirates until the age of 21. Now, having passed his 21st year, he leaves the pirate band and falls in love. However, it turns out that the pirate indenture says that his apprenticeship doesn't end until his 21st birthday, and since he was born on February 29, that day won't arrive until he's in his eighties, and so he must leave his fianceé and return to the pirates.

1468 - Pope Paul III (d. 1549)

1692 - John Byrom, English poet (d. 1763)

1724 - Eva Marie Veigel, ballet dancer and wife of actor David Garrick (d.1822)

1736 - Ann Lee, American founder of Shakers (d. 1784)

1792 - Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)

1840 - John Philip Holland, Irish inventor (d. 1914)

1852 - Frank Gavan Duffy, Australian judge (d. 1936)

1860 - Herman Hollerith, American statistician (d. 1929)

1896 - Morarji Desai, Prime Minister of India (d. 1995)

1896 - William A. Wellman, American film director (d. 1975)

1904 - Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)

1904 - Pepper Martin, baseball player (d. 1965)

1904 - Rukmini Devi Arundale, Indian dancer and founder of Kalakshetra (d. 1986)

1908 - Balthus, French-Polish painter (d. 2001)

1908 - Dee Brown, American writer (d. 2002)

1908 - Alf Gover, English cricketer (d. 2001)

1916 - Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)

1920 - Arthur Franz, American actor (d. 2006)

1920 - James Mitchell, American actor

1920 - Michèle Morgan, French actress

1920 - Howard Nemerov, American poet (d. 1991)

1924 - Al Rosen, American baseball player

1924 - David Beattie, New Zealand Governor General (d. 2001)

1924 - Carlos Humberto Romero, President of El Salvador

1928 - Joss Ackland, English actor

1928 - Tempest Storm, American burlesque performer

1932 - Jaguar, Brazilian cartoonist

1932 - Gene Golub, American mathematician (d. 2007)

1932 - Masten Gregory, American F1 Driver (d. 1985)

1936 - Jack Lousma, American astronaut

1936 - Henri Richard, Canadian ice hockey player

1936 - Alex Rocco, American actor

1940 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople

1940 - William H. Turner, Jr. American horse trainer

1944 - Phyllis Frelich, American actress

1944 - Dennis Farina, American actor

1944 - Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Italian illustrator

1944 - Ene Ergma, Estonian politician

1948 - Jirō Akagawa, Japanese novelist

1952 - Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American television personality

1952 - Tim Powers, American writer

1952 - Raisa Smetanina, Russian cross-country skier

1952 - Bart Stupak, American politician

1956 - Jonathan Coleman, Anglo-Australian entertainer

1956 - Bob Speller, Canadian politician

1956 - Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)

1956 - J. Randy Taraborrelli, American celebritiy journalist

1960 - Ian McKenzie Anderson, British musician

1960 - Khaled, Algerian raï musician

1960 - Richard Ramirez, American serial killer

1960 - Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker

1964 - Lyndon Byers, Canadian hockey player and Boston radio personality.

1964 - Jahred Shane, Afro-Brazilian rapper/singer of Hed PE

1968 - Suanne Braun, South African actress

1968 - Chucky Brown, American basketball player

1968 - Pete Fenson, American curler

1968 - Naoko Iijima, Japanese actress

1968 - Gonzalo Lira, Chilean-American novelist

1968 - Bryce Paup, American football player

1968 - Wendi Peters, British actress

1972 - Antonio Sabàto, Jr., Italian-born actor

1972 - Dave Williams, American singer (Drowning Pool) (d. 2002)

1972 - Saul Williams, American rapper, poet, and actor

1972 - Pedro Zamora, Cuban-born American Real World housemate and AIDS activist (d. 1994)

1976 - Ja Rule, American rapper and actor

1976 - Emma Barton, English actress

1976 - Terrence Long, American baseball player

1980 - Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player

1980 - Taylor Twellman, American soccer player

1980 - Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league footballer

1980 - Chris Conley, American musician

1980 - Ruben Plaza, Spanish cyclist

1984 - Cam Ward, Canadian ice hockey player

1984 - Darren Ambrose, English footballer

1984 - Adam Sinclair, Indian field hockey player

1984 - Cullen Jones, American swimmer

1988 - Scott Golbourne, English footballer

Deaths

1528 - Patrick Hamilton, Scottish religious reformer (martyred) (b. 1504)

1592 - Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer (b. 1540)

1604 - John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1530)

1740 - Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal (b. 1667)

1744 - John Theophilus Desaguliers, French philosopher (b. 1683)

1820 - Johann Joachim Eschenburg, German literary critic (b. 1743)

1868 - Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1786)

1928 - Ina Coolbrith, first poet laureate of California (b. 1841)

1940 - Edward Frederic Benson, English writer (b. 1867)

1944 - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, President of Finland (b. 1861)

1956 - Elpidio Quirino, President of the Philippines (b. 1890)

1964 - Frank Albertson, American actor (b. 1909)

1968 - Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)

1980 - Gil Elvgren, American artist (b. 1914)

1992 - Ruth Pitter, English poet (b. 1897)

1992 - Earl Scheib, American car repainter (b. 1908)

2000 - Dennis Danell, American artist (b. 1961)

2004 - Jerome Lawrence, American playwright (b. 1915)

Holidays and observances

Bahá'í Faith - Day 4 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) (in leap years only) - days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.

Discordianism - St. Tib's Day.

February 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)Further Information

Get more info on 'Leap Day'.

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