It's Bissextile Day!

I like life's little quirks. They provide extra reasons to smile and act silly. So this post will honour Leap Day by providing you with some things you thought you didn't need to know about the Gregorian calendar’s more ingenious moments:

As most people know, the leap day was invented because the Earth's orbit around the Sun does not take 365 days, it takes 365.24219 days, meaning we lose about a quarter of a day each year. This throws the seasons of kilter because the lost time adds up. When Julius Caesar first suggested the extra day every fourth year in 45 B.C., he made up for this discrepancy in the short(ish) term, but essentially added an extra 11 minutes to each year. This meant that by the mid-16th Century, they had an extra 10 days to deal with - this threw the world into quite the conundrum, as what could they do with all that time? Where would Easter go? What do you mean, there's no Christmas in 1582? Who knew the calendar could be so confusing?

Then came along Pope Gregory XIII who decided the best way to fix the problem was to remove the leap year from most turn of the centuries, meaning that only centuries divisible by 400 would be 366 days long. So 1600, 2000, 2400, etc... would get leap years, but not 1700, 1800 or 1900. With me so far? Yes, I'm lost too, but onward we shall strive.

By doing so, the calendar would only gain 27 seconds a year (being 365.2425 days long) meaning it would take 2,880 years for another day to be necessary. Hence, the inception of today's Gregorian calendar.

Whew. That hurt my mathematically incompetent brain. And my Google skills.

Now for some Leap Day trivia:

A leap day falls thirteen times on a Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday; fourteen times on a Friday or Saturday; and fifteen times on a Monday or Wednesday.

In Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta The Pirates of Penzance, poor Frederic, who is born on February 29th, is apprenticed to pirates until his 21st birthday. Due to the fact that it only arrives every 4 years, he is forced to wait until his 84th birthday to finally leave and propose to his lady love, Mabel. The stupid woman actually waited that long. Bah, humbug.

Sadie Hawkins day (where women pursue men) originated in 5th century Ireland, when St. Patrick set February 29th as the day women were allowed to ask men to marry them after St. Bridget complained that women had to wait too long to get their way. This was revived in 1288 by Queen Margaret. If the man refused, his fine was a kiss, a silk dress, or a pair of gloves.

On the flip side, the Greeks believe marriage during a leap year is bad luck.

The Savoy Hotel invented the Leap Day cocktail in 1928:

2 oz gin
1/2 oz Grand Marnier
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
1/4 oz fresh lemon juice

Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Serve with a twist of lemon.

With that, I bid you adieu with a toast to Leap Day!