What is Leap Day?

Have you ever wondered about the origin of leap day? February 29th is a date that will only appear on your calendar every four years. A year that includes February 29th is called a “Leap Year.” You can impress your friends by always knowing if it’s a leap year. Here’s the trick, if a year is divisible by four, it is a leap year. Examples of leap years include 2016, 2020, and 2024.

When babies are born on leap day, they only have actual birthdays every four years! Of course, like everyone else, they continue to age each year, and many people born on February 29th celebrate their birthdays on March 1 during non-leap years.

You might be curious why we need to have this irregularity in our calendars. Each calendar year usually has 365 days. However, it actually takes 365.24 days for the Earth to circle the sun. So, to catch up, we add one day to our calendar each leap year. 

If you want to learn about some fun customs and traditions about leap year, check out this article from timeanddate.com.