Leap Day

Because the way our calendar is set up, about every four years is a leap year. In that year February has 29 days, instead of 28. February 29th is referred to as leap day. Julius Caesar started leap years in 46 B.C. All kinds of traditions, customs and superstitions have grown up around the day since then. Here are a few:

The town of Anthony, Texas, has declared itself the "Leap Year Capital of the World."

In Ireland, Britain, and the United States, a woman can propose marriage to a man anytime during a leap year.

In Finland, if a woman proposes to a man on leap day and he refuses, he must buy her enough cloth to make a skirt.

France has a satirical newspaper that is only published on February 29th in the leap years.

In Greece it's considered unlucky to marry in a leap year.



Here are a few things that happened on February 29th through the years:

In 1468, Pope Paul III was born.

In 1692, the first warrants were issued that would become the Salem witchcraft trials.

In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt establishes the commission to see to the completion of the Panama Canal.

In 1916, Dinah Shore was born.

In 1940, Gone with the Wind won 8 Oscars, including Hattie McDaniel for Best Supporting Actress. She was the first black performer to ever win an Oscar.

In 1952, the first "walk" and "don't walk" signs where put up in Times Square, New York City, for pedestrians.

In 1960, the first Playboy Club opened in Chicago with waitresses wearing bunny outfits.

In 1968, the discovery of the first pulsar star, emitting regular radio waves, was announced in Cambridge, England.

In 1968, "Up, Up and Away" by the Fifth Dimension won record of the year at the Grammy's, and The Beatles won album of the year for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

In 2004, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King won 11 Oscars.

Will you do anything special to celebrate leap day this year? Does your family have any traditions? Have they in the past?

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