Every four years, an extra special day is added to the calendar— February 29th. Leap years help keep our calendars aligned with the Earth’s orbit, and create rare birthdays. While 2024 was a leap year, 2025 will have the usual 28 days of February. And the next leap year will be 2028.
The Science Behind It
A normal calendar year is 365 days; however, it takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 56 seconds for us to complete an orbit around the Sun. In order to align our calendars to the Earth’s orbit, we have a leap year every 4 years. Without a leap year, our calendars would shift out of sync with the Earth’s orbit. The seasons would also become out of sync with the calendar, ultimately causing summer to be in December! By adding “February 29th” every 4 years, it makes up for the extra time missed in the regular year, and helps sync with the orbit again.
History of Leap Years
In 46 BCE, the Julian Calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar. The calendar was similar to the one we use today. It consisted of 12 months, either 30 or 31 days, and February with only 28 days. Every 4 years, an additional day was added to the calendar. However, the Julian calendar had a minor error. By having a leap year every 4 years, the calendar gradually added too much extra time. It overstated the length of the year and added 10 additional days to the calendar over several centuries.
The error was causing the calendar to gradually fall out of sync from Earth’s orbit. Therefore, this error was fixed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Firstly, he removed 10 days from the calendar, to bring it back into alignment with the orbit. That’s why after October 4th 1582, the next day was October 15th. Then the Pope suggested that a leap year happens every 4 years, unless it is a century year (ends in 00, such as 1600, 1700). However a century year could still be a leap year if it is divisible by 400. This explains why 2000 was a leap year, but why 2100 won’t be a leap year. This adjustment led to the creation of the Gregorian Calendar, which is now globally used.
Leap Year Birthdays
Being born on a leap year day is rare, with a one in 1,461 chance. Despite this, there are approximately 5 million people born on this day. Some famous leaplings include actress Dasia Temia, soccer player Ferran Torres, rapper Ja Rule, and basketball player Tyrese Haliburton. Most people born on leap day decide to celebrate their birthdays either on February 28th or March 1st. Some people even love the flexibility of being able to choose your birthday. However, leaplings’ big celebrations only come around once every 4 years. This makes their birthdays feel even more special. Leaplings often come up with unique ways to celebrate their birthdays, whether it’s throwing a huge party, or just relaxing on the extra day of the year.
Our school has its own leapling: 7th grader Tovik Khalil. Although he’s 13 years old, his leap year age makes him only 3 years old! Like many other leap year babies, he chooses to celebrate his birthday on 28th February, to keep his birthday in the same month as his father and sister. Even though people often joke around by saying he’s only 3, he says he loves his rare birthday, and wouldn’t trade it for a regular one.
“I feel like it makes me special. And I wouldn’t rather have a regular birthday because then I can’t say my birthday is in 4 years.” – Tovik Khalil
Would you rather have a leap year birthday or a regular one?
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