Leap!

Today does not feel like a real day to me. Shouldn’t we all just have the day off? How can anybody expect real work to get done on a day that doesn’t actually exist?

So instead of a post about books or writing or nifty magical creatures (next week, the nycticorax!) I thought I would mention a few interesting facts about Leap Day.

Why is Leap Day in February? Because in the original Roman calendar, the year began in March. Said year only lasted for ten months and did not include winter, because “people didn’t work then.” I am entranced by this idea of two months just not existing–sort of an enforced winter vacation, I guess?

By the 7th century BC, people had noticed that, even if farm work was slack in the winter, time was in fact passing. Two new months (Ianuarius and Februarius) were added to the calendar.

Then along came Julius Caesar, who announced (when you are an all-powerful divine emperor, you can just say stuff and wham! It’s true!) that a year was 365 days and 6 hours along, and every fourth year you get an additional day on the end of Februarius to use up those stray six hours. He also made the year start on the first of Ianuarius, and decreed that people had to abide by his new calendar (and, you know, worship him as a god and all) after a 445-day stretch to get everybody all caught up, called the ultimus annus confusionis or “final year of confusion.” All seemed well…

But wait! Caesar was off by 12 minutes. The year is actually 365 days, 5 hours, and 48 minutes long. By the 1500s, the calendar year was out of whack with the solar year again, and Pope Gregory had to step in with the Gregorian calendar. This keeps leap years every 4 years except for centennials (years with two 00s, like 1900) except for centennials divisible by 400 (like 1600.)

And that is why today is not real.

Sources: Time Magazine, “Who Decided February 29 Was Leap Day?” by Chad de Guzman
CBS News, “What is a leap year, and why do they happen? Everything to know about Leap Day”