Learn about the lore of February 29th with Berrier insurance, commercial truck insurance specialists. With 2012 comes the gift of an extra day: 24 hours for our calendar to catch up with the sun—and for us to catch up on DVR recordings. This is because a year isn't really 365 days, in fact our planet actually takes 365 1/4 days to revolve around the sun. These six additional hours each year add up to an extra 24 hours over four years, at which point we add a day to our calendar. Without leap day, annual events would slowly shift seasons—eventually, we'd be celebrating Christmas in July. However the system still isnt perfect. While the calculation of 365 1/4 days for the Earth to lap the sun is close, the true figure is actually about 11 minutes short of that, and this tiny miscalculation caused a day of discrepancy every 128 years. In 1582, it was ruled that leap year would be skipped three times every four centuries to fix the snag. While Feb. 29 may feel like your average day, its once-every-four-years status has long linked it to myth and lore.- Hundreds of years ago people thought that messing with our months would throw Mother Nature for a loop. Farmers worried that the change would lower crop yields and sicken livestock. In fact, a Scottish saying declared that "leap year was never a good sheep year."
- Those born on Feb. 29 are called "leaplings" or "leapers." Legal permissions like getting a driver license or drinking alcohol are granted on whichever day a particular region deems official. Most U.S. states test leaplings' patience by making them wait until the 1st.
- Four hundred years ago, women weren't allowed to propose marriage to men… except on leap day. While the source of this switcheroo isn't 100 percent clear. folklore traces the tradition to fifth-century Ireland, when St. Bridget supposedly complained to St. Patrick that gals were sick of waiting around for their procrastinating men to pop the question. Patrick consented to a leap day role reversal and, by some accounts, also declared that men who declined the proposal would be fined!
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