You might think that your
birthday comes once a year.
Not true for leapers, those
fortunate few who have the
honor of being born on Feb.
29.
Leap year comes around only
once every four years. The
probability of having your
birthday land on a leap day
is 1 in 1,461, which means
only 200,000 people in the
United States have a
birthday on this special
day.
To tell if it is going to be
a leap year or not, simply
check the day the year
starts and ends on. This
year January 1 was a
Thursday, and at the end of
the year December 31 will be
a Friday.
Having your birthday on a
leap day has its advantages
and its disadvantages.
Instead of claiming to be
44, you are, in fact, 11.
However, there are also some
legal difficulties. For
example, your license
expiration date could say
Feb. 29, a day that in fact
only exists every four
years.
Leap babies will technically
never have a golden
birthday. A golden birthday
is when the day of your
birthday is equal to your
age. Leap year babies will
have to be 116 years old
before they turn 29 on the
29th day.
Julius Caesar first
calculated the days and
created the Julian calendar
to coincide with the
tropical, or solar year,
according to the NASA Web
site. He decided to add a
day to February every fourth
year.
Unfortunately, Caesar
miscalculated and in 1582,
Pope Gregory the 13th had to
issue a papal edict to
correct the glitch.
This resulted in an extra
day of the year except on
years that are divisible by
100 and not divisible by
400. The alterations
resulted in a Gregorian
calendar, used in the
Western world today.
The addition of one day and
Caesar's miscalculations
caused a ripple in all
dates. Gregory's change was
originally made in the
interest of the Easter
holiday.
Had the calendar remained
the same, in the future
there would have been more
than one day that would have
had to be added. Currently,
the year is not exactly 365
days long but more like
365.25 days.
Leap year is collectively
defined as being the
interval between two
successive passages of the
Sun through the vernal
equinox. The vernal equinox
is the instant when the sun
is above the Earth's equator
while going from south to
north.
Anthony, Texas, population
10,000, has been named the
Leap Year Capitol of the
world, according to the
official Web site,
leapyearcapitol.com. Every
four years the town
celebrates the extra day
with a Worldwide Leap Year
Festival.
The people of Anthony have
been celebrating leap year
since 1988. Mary Anne Brown,
a leap year baby herself,
founded the festival.
The World Wide Leap Year
club currently has 400
members with participants
from almost every state and
some from outside the United
States.
Traditionally, females
propose to their loved ones
on this significant day,
according to
leapyeardayproject.com.
Sadie Hawkins Day is often
confused with leap day for
this reason. However, it was
tradition that this is the
one day out of the year the
female could do the asking.
There are also leap year
balls and dances. The women
are again permitted to ask
the male counterpart to
dance. Saint Bridgette
proposed the tradition when
she requested of Saint
Patrick to allow women to be
aggressive on this day.
When the man is proposed to,
he may say yes or no. In the
event that the male
declines, though, tradition
holds that he must offer the
female a silk dress, and a
kiss on the cheek.
This year the Goodyear blimp
will help in the Leap Year
celebration, according to
the Goodyear Web site.
The legendary blimp will
offer a ride free of charge
to leap year babies.
Many famous people have been
born on this extra day.
Dinah Shore, Antonio Sabato
and the rap artist Ja Rule
were all born on Feb. 29,
according to the Associated
Press.
Many NFL players have also
been born on this extra day.
Don't fear
The Leapers