February 29th is a date recognized by most parts of the world every four years. Though the date is barely noticed in today’s hustle and bustle, some claim that it should be celebrated as an international holiday. This may be wishful thinking but still the question remains, why do we add that extra day onto our calendar every 4 years in February?

There are 365 days during the year but sometimes they don’t always match up with the seasonal or astronomical changes that occur. This is when a leap year comes into play, as they are added to keep the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar worldwide, working properly. The 365 days in a year are meant to line up with the solar year. The solar year is exactly how many times it takes the Earth to revolve around the Sun- about one year. But in fact, the amount of time it takes for the Earth to travel around the Sun takes a little bit longer than that, about ¼ more time to be precise. Therefore, the resulting impact is the calendar and the solar year not completely matching, with the calendar being a tad shorter than the solar year.

This may not seem like such a big deal, but those extra hours add up over the years. Over the course of a century, for example, the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the solar calendar is 25 days! If we didn’t fix this problem, summer wouldn’t start in June, instead it would be July. We run the risk of children everywhere becoming depressed due to waiting even longer for their summer vacations! Therefore, every four years an extra day is added to keep this from happening.

The Egyptians excelled in astronomy from observing the stars and actually became the first to create a set calendar. From this, they also came up with the idea of adding an extra day to keep the calendar lined up with the solar year. As time passed, the Romans adopted the calendar and became the first to designate February 29th as the leap date. 

It’s interesting to note that even though February 29th occurs but once every four years, many historical moments have taken place on this extra day. For instance, Christopher Columbus used a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican Indians on this date. On February 29, 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first black woman to win an Oscar for her performance in Gone With the Wind. In York, PA, home of Geppi’s Entertainment’s Publishing and Auctions, the first electric trolley between York and Hanover began at a very successful pace in 1908.

Not only have historical moments occurred on February 29th, but many celebrities have been born on this date as well! For instance, actor Dennis Farina is turning 16 this year, but was born in 1944 and rapper Ja Rule, born in 1976, is turning 8 years old today.

Many more moments in history have occurred on the 29th of February and many more events will as well. It’s exciting to see what this next leap year will bring.