The history of leap year

[Dodgergirl]

There was great consternation when the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582 and 10 days were deleted. People thought days of their lives had been stolen. They were not pleased.

The modern calendar -- with Feb. 29 appearing every four years -- has led to 64-year-olds having sweet-16 birthday parties. But generally people are pleased to see grandmothers in bobby sox.

The extra day is needed to keep the seasons aligned with the calendar. The Earth takes 365.256 days to do one complete orbit around the sun, which leaves about five hours dangling at the end of 12 months. Left to pile up, those hooligan hours would eventually push winter into summer. It could make Christmas come in spring and hurt the sale of yule logs.

The leap-year plan stuffs those extra hours into an extra day at the end of February once every four years. (In all years divisible by four, unless it is divisible by 100, however, not by 400. Got that?)

[BGW]

I like the myth and lore part's of Leap Year/Day

Once upon a time, it was actually illegal for women in Britain to propose to men -- except on February 29 (http://www.lovetripper.com/news/2008/02/2112008-londons-may-fair-hotel-offers.html), because that day was not part of England's legal calendar. Here in North American, we've broadened it to the entire year (http://www.aisledash.com/2008/02/11/tired-of-waiting-for-his-proposal-its-a-leap-year-so-go-ahead/), but historically, it was just this one day. So, if he hasn't summoned up the courage yet, you go right ahead, knowing that there are hundreds of years of tradition behind you!

Supposedly, a 1288 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1288) law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret%2C_Maid_of_Norway) (then age five and living in Norway), required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to £1 to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow.<SUP class=reference id=_ref-5>[8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year#_note-5)</SUP> Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to the modern leap day, 29 February (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_29), or to the medieval leap day, 24 February (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_24). According to Felten: "A play from the turn of the 17th century, 'The Maydes Metamorphosis,' has it that 'this is leape year/women wear breeches.' A few hundred years later, breeches wouldn't do at all: Women looking to take advantage of their opportunity to pitch woo were expected to wear a scarlet petticoat -- fair warnin

So--are there any brave women out there??

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year#Folk_traditions
and: http://www.aisledash.com/2008/02/29/happy-leap-day-have-you-proposed-yet/

[beautiful_mess38]

This being February 29 — Leap Day — today is costing you an extra day's interest if you're repaying a debt. On the bright side, its earning you a tiny bit more on your bank deposits.

Whom do we have to thank — or curse — for this extra day every four years? Julius Caesar and his lover, Cleopatra.

In 48 B.C., Julius Caesar was in Alexandria, Egypt, absorbing the culture and science — and decadence — of Cleopatra's capital. There he learned from an old sage named Acoreus about Egypt's calendar, which had a leap year.

At the time, the Roman calendar did not. Like most ancient calendars, it was based on the phases of the moon, which in one cycle take about 29.5 days. But 12 months of 29.5 days doesn't equal the true length of the year as measured by the orbit of the Earth around the sun. It's off by 11 days, so anniversaries, holidays, and entire seasons to drift backward on lunar calendars.

The ancient Egyptians had realized this and created a calendar 365??-days long — with the fraction averaged in by adding an extra day every four years.

When Caesar returned to Rome, he created a 365-day calendar with a quadrennial leap year, adding the extra day in February.

A minor hassle for some, perhaps, but certainly better than the alternative faced by the Romans. Back in 45 B.C., for instance, their lunar calendar had drifted backward by 80 days — nearly three months. Spring had become winter, and autumn came in the summer months.

To correct, this Caesar decreed that 45 B.C. would be 445 days long. Think about the extra interest on 80 extra days! No wonder they called it "The Year of Confusion."