Happy Leap Day!

By Zadra Rose Ibañez, Director of Operations

My cousin’s birthday is February 28.  I often think that, had she been born one day later, she would be a quarter of her age.  Of course, she wouldn’t really only be ¼ of her years, but would only have had a ¼ of her birthdays.  In doing a bit of research on the subject (thank you, Wiki) it appears there are actually rules about this.  Birthdays of people who are born on February 29^th are recognized on February 28^th in non-leap years for purposes of reaching majority.

But this got me to thinking, what other connections could be made about Leap Day / Leap Year?

First, we need to figure out when leap years happen. Leap day, or February 29^th, falls in any year that is divisible by four, EXCEPT for years that are divisible by 100.  (But a year divisible by 400 still contains a leap day and is a leap year.)

So, 1900 is not a leap year, but 2000 was.  Leap years occur in years ending in the following cycle: 0,4,8,2,6.  (e.g. 2020, 2024 2028, 2032, 2036, 2040).

This convoluted system was created in an effort to keep seasons where they are on the calendar, because an actual solar year is 6 hours longer than 365 days. Without the adjustment of a leap day, seasons would eventually shift to occur in different months.

Fun facts:

• I graduated in a leap year, so most of my graduating class turned 18 in a leap year.
• Presidential Elections happen in a leap year.
• In “the old days,” the Olympics always fell on a leap year. The Summer and Winter Olympics used to be held in the same year every four years until 1992.  While the Summer Olympics are still held in a leap year, the Winter Olympics were moved to be two years after the Summer Olympics and are held every four years since 1994.
• Whatever configuration of days February falls, March and November are the same – except in leap year. So, if February 1 falls on Monday, then so does March 1 and November 1, but in leap years this goes out the window.
• Whatever day of the week a certain date fell on last year, this year will always be the day after – unless last year was a leap year. So, March 1 fell on Wednesday in 2017,  Thursday in 2018, Friday in 2019… but this year it’s on Sunday, so that rule isn’t really helpful.
• There are many “famous birthdays, deaths and historic events” that happened on February 29^th, but being a hockey fan, this is my favorite: in 1980, Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers made NHL history when he scored his 800th goal.

One last tidbit:  because Chinese New Years cycle through every 12 years, the year of the Rat is always in a leap year. (Unless the year is divisible by 100 but not 400, as per the rules above.)  The year of the Dragon and Monkey also occur only in leap years.  Or another way to think about it; leap years only occur in the year of the Dragon, Monkey, or Rat.

And, because I love numbers and spreadsheets, here is a chart, just for you!

Happy Leap Day!