What is Leap Day and Why Do We Have It?

February 29.  Why do we add an extra day in the month of February?  Do you really know why Feb 29 exists?  What are the odds of being born on this day?  Did you know that legally, it’s a day that doesn’t exist?  When does a person born on Feb 29 turn 18 – on February 28 or March 1?  Please read on to learn more about this notable day of our calendar.

Why February 29 exists

First of all, why does February 29 exist?  The concept of a leap year and the addition of an extra day to February (February 29) is rooted in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun and the need to keep our calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year.

The Earth takes approximately 365.25 days to complete one orbit around the Sun. To account for this, the Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE, included a leap year with an extra day every four years. While this approximation was close, it still slightly overestimated the length of the solar year.

To address this discrepancy more accurately, the Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. The Gregorian calendar refined the leap year rule. According to this calendar, the year number must be divisible by four – except for end-of-century years, which must be divisible by 400.  This means that the year 2000 was a leap year, however, the year 1900 and the upcoming end-of-century years 2100, 2200, 2300, 2500, 2700, 2900, and 3000 are not.

This adjustment better aligns the calendar year with the solar year, making it more accurate. The introduction of the Gregorian calendar was gradual, and different countries adopted it at different times. For example, Great Britain and its colonies adopted it in 1752.

As a result of these rules, the average length of a year in the Gregorian calendar is very close to the solar year, making it a more accurate representation of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The addition of February 29 every four years helps maintain this synchronization and avoids the drift over time with respect to the event that the year is supposed to track such as seasons.

Born on February 29?

If you are born on Feb 29 then you may call yourself a leapling, leaper, or leapster.  Most years you will celebrate your birthday on Feb 28. Some choose to celebrate on March 1.  (More about this later in the blog.)

The odds of being born on February 29th are 1 in 1,461, or 0.068%. That makes leaplings a minority, with only about five million leaplings in the whole world (out of about 8 billion people on the planet.)  In the US, it is just 187,000 people born on this day. 

Here are a few famous people who share this special birthday – Ja Rule (Rapper), Tony Robbins (Author), Mark Foster (singer), Dinah Shore (singer), and Jimmy Dorsey (musician).

And for the most famous of the leaplings, the DC Comics calendar confirms that Superman’s birthday is also on February 29.

Notable Guinness records

What are the odds?  There are 2 families (one in Norway, and one in Utah) on record to have 3 children, all born on Leap Day. 

In Ireland, there is the Keogh family.  Grandfather, son, and granddaughter were all born on February 29.  For you math geeks, the odds of three generations of the same family born on the same day are 133,225 to one.  Mathematicians have calculated the odds of three generations of the same family all being born on February 29 at 3.11 billion to one!

Legal considerations

Here, I have to lean on Lena J. Marderosian, Esq.’s article to navigate the modern day legal aspects of February 29 on our calendar.  This is an excerpt from her comprehensive legal review.

Leap year birthdays can complicate things on official levels. When do Leaplings celebrate their birthday? In terms of parties and birthday dinners, the decision, of course, is up to them. Many, known as “strict Februarians,” choose to celebrate on February 28 as this is in the same month as their actual birthday. However, when it comes to legal matters—like being old enough to get a driver’s license or buy a car—it’s more complicated, and March 1 may be the better choice. Consider the following:

• Drinking: If you are born on February 29, a day which usually occurs only once every four years, then your 21st birthday will not fall on a leap year. In the U.S. you must be 21 years old to legally drink. Since February 28 is not February 29, you cannot legally drink until after 11:59 pm on February 28. So technically, bouncers should not let 21-year-old leap year babies into bars until March 1.
• Driver’s License: Leaplings often face problems with their driver’s licenses showing invalid expiration dates, such as Feb. 29, 2015, which was not a leap year. However, according to California’s Department of Motor Vehicle blog, “For a person born on February 29 with a driver’s license or ID that expires in a leap year, we’ll use the same date, February 29. If it expires in a regular year, we’ll use February 28 as the expiration date.” However, hospital and medical records, as well as life insurance policies, which use one’s birthdate as means for identification, do not always have such consistent rules to follow in determining a Leapling’s birthdate.
• Social Security/Medicare: Leaplings need not worry—even though their birthday only comes once every four years, their benefits are not affected. The Social Security Administration doesn’t really care what day of the month you were born in, only the month and year. So even though a Leapling’s actual date of birth doesn’t come every year, the month certainly does, and the Social Security Administration counts February as the Birth Month in this situation.
• Other legal matters: Those of us in the legal field know that calculating deadlines is extremely important in many areas, including determining statutes of limitations, contractual computations, and even criminal sentencing. In fact, California Government Code §6803 defines a “year” as 365 days. As for the 366 days in a Leap Year, Section 6803 provides that the added day, and the day immediately preceding it, “shall be reckoned together as one day.”

If this legalese piqued your interest, here is an article that researches specific legal cases in Massachusetts impacted by February 29.

Computer glitches

In the early days of computers, imagine trying to sign up for an online subscription and the program says your birthday is invalid.  YouTube would shut down your account if you entered February 29.  At Toys“R”Us (remember them?) kids could sign up to receive personalized birthday cards from Geoffrey the Giraffe.  For a short time, leap day babies were left out of the fun due to programming issues. It was quickly resolved.

Traditions

Here are some interesting traditions surrounding February 29.  Traditionally, a woman could ask a man to marry her on February 29th. But what if the guy said no? If she was turned down in Denmark, she would be given 12 pairs of gloves; if spurned in Finland, she was given material for a new skirt. If the proposal was rejected in Scotland, the man was fined and the government got the money!

In Scotland, it used to be considered unlucky for someone to be born on leap day, just as Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day by many. Greeks consider it unlucky for couples to marry during a leap year, and especially on Leap Day.

Leap Day deals

Everyone seems to want to get in on the action.  I suggest you Google February 29 discounts.  Here is one I wish I could take advantage of.  At Krispy Kreme, after the purchase of the 1^st dozen doughnuts, you can get the 2^nd dozen for $2.29.  If you are lucky enough to be a leapster, you get a dozen doughnuts for free on your birthday.

Conclusion

Lastly, I will end this blog post with this additional tidbit of information. What date is rarer than Feb 29? Feb 30.  Swedes and Hobbits celebrate Feb 30. What??  In 1712, Sweden and Finland added an extra leap day to February to help catch up their old Julian calendar with the new Gregorian calendar.  On the other hand, Hobbits celebrate Feb 30 every year.  In Lord of the Rings universe they celebrate twelve  30-day months every year.

Whatever you do this Feb 29, be sure to make the most of your extra day this leap year.