It’s that time of year again for leap day! A leap year occurs every four years in February. With leap year, we are given one extra day. But how did leap year come to be? This article will unveil all the hidden mysteries behind the day.
Leap year dates back to the Romans. It is said that the Romans used a 23-day intercalary month called Mercedonius to align their calendar with the solar year.
However, the Roman dictator didn’t like this practice so he and the philosopher, Sosigenes of Alexandria, decided they would add a day to every fourth year to align with the solar year. This extra day came at the end of February, creating what we now know as leap day.
This calculation was based on the belief that a year lasted 365.25 days, which was close, but not completely accurate. It overestimated the solar year by 11 minutes, and by the 16th century, the calendar year and solar year were unaligned.
Various students at Highlands High School have a leap day birthday, including Sophomore Adelaide Littner.
Littner commented on how she celebrates her birthday: “I used to celebrate my birthday on the 28th only, and then people kept getting confused. They were like, which day do you celebrate? so, I decided that it would be fun to celebrate both days. So last year when it wasn’t a leap year, I just celebrated on the 28th and the 1st.”
Enjoy your extra day of February! The next leap year will be in the year 2028. To learn more about the fascinating history of Leap Day Click here.