Why is 29 february

By the 16th century, the Julian calendar had fallen out of tune with the natural seasons by almost 10 days. To correct this discrepancy, Pope Gregory XIII in decreed that the day of October 4 that year would be followed directly by October 15 — thus covering up the error.

The Pope also modified the leap year system in the Julian calendar. That new system came to be known as the Gregorian calendar. In the Gregorian calendar, a century year a year ending with 00 is not a leap year, even though it is a multiple of 4. Thus, the year will not be a leap year. But even this does not provide total accuracy. To ensure that, some century years remain leap years. In the Gregorian calendar, leap years include those century years which are exactly divisible by Allow us to explain why leap years are necessary and share some of the fun folklore surrounding them.

Simply put, a leap year is a year with an extra day—February 29—which is added nearly every four years to the calendar year.

Without this extra day, our calendar and the seasons would gradually get out of sync. Keep reading for a longer explanation. Because of this extra day, a leap year has days instead of Additionally, a leap year does not end and begin on the same day of the week, as a non—leap year does.

Generally, a leap year happens every four years, which, thankfully, is a fairly simple pattern to remember. However, there is a little more to it than that. The short explanation for why we need leap years is that our calendar needs to stay aligned with the astronomical seasons.

One orbit of Earth around the Sun takes approximately Because of this. Without leap days, the calendar would be off by 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds more each year. After years, the seasons would be off by 25 days! Eventually, the months we call February and March would feel like summer months in the Northern Hemisphere.

Any leap day babies out there? Do you have any leap year memories? Are you a Leapling yourself? Please share in the comments below! She said, "So if you don't want to renew you have to cancel on this exact date next year. When I explained that it was leap day she seemed shocked.

I just wanted to know if I should cancel on February 28th or March 1st. She had to ask the manager and everyone in the store. When nobody knew, they called corporate.

A half hour later she tells me nobody seems to know the answer to your question because it's never happened before, but we'll call you when we find out. Nobody ever did. I ended up trying to cancel on March 1 and it was a whole thing all over again. Eventually they decided to give me a month free and cancel the contract in April. The lesson I learned is never sign a contract on leap day. The explanation is provided in the above article.

There are rare exceptions to the every-four-year rule. Born February 29th, I celebrate my off years 12 noon on the 28th till 12 noon March 1st. I love my special day!!! Our daughter is a Leapling! She will be 4 years old this year Sweet sixteen!

My original due date was for March 1. We celebrate her birthday from noon on the 28th to noon on the 1st during non leap years. Of course he was kidding. I have tried to find that news clip to no avail. My husband passed away June 29, Our first marriage was August 26, my 17th birthday also. So on that date in we would have been married 44 years.

I still miss him so much! After only years, a calendar without leap years would be off by approximately 24 days. Seasonal days such as the vernal equinox or the winter solstice would, therefore, shift in relation to the months in the calendar. For example, in years, the Northern Hemisphere's autumnal equinox , which falls in late September , would fall in late August , and in a few centuries, August would become a spring month.

Is There a Perfect Calendar? A leap day was added every four years. At the time, leap day was February 24, and February was the last month of the year.