29 February 2008 : Leap Year

Why is it necessary to have a leap year?

Using a calendar with 365 days would result in an error of 0.2422 days or almost 6 hours per year. After 100 years, this calendar would be more than 24 days ahead of the seasons (tropical year) which is not a desirable situation. It’s desirable to align the calendar with the seasons and make the difference as small as possible. By adding leap years approximately every 4th year, this difference between the calendar and the seasons can be reduced significantly, and the calendar will follow the seasons much more closely than without leap years.

Leap Year has been the traditional time when women can propose marriage. In many of today's cultures, it’s OK for a woman to propose marriage to a man, society doesn't look down on such women, but that hasn't always been the case. When the rules of courtship were stricter, women were only allowed to pop the question on one day every four years: on 29 February. It’s believed this tradition was started in 5th century Ireland when St Bridget complained to St Patrick about women having to wait for so long for a man to propose. According to legend, St Patrick said the yearning females could propose on this one day in February during the leap year.

According to English law, 29 February was ignored and had no legal status. People assumed that traditions would also have no status on that day. It was also reasoned that since the leap year day existed to fix a problem in the calendar, it could also be used to fix an old and unjust custom that only let men propose marriage. The first documentation of this practice dates back to 1288 when Scotland passed a law that allowed women to propose marriage to the man of their choice in that year. They also made it law that any man who declined a proposal in a leap year must pay a fine. The fine could range from a kiss to payment for a silk dress or a pair of gloves.