2020 is a leap year, but how did the process of adding an extra day to February start?
We asked ONU assistant professor of creative writing, Jennifer Pullen, that very question - she says that the need to adapt the calendar started back when a lunar calendar was still being used and would be about three months off every few hundred years or so.
After a few different types of calendars, the one we use now, the Gregorian calendar was adopted, and so was the addition of a leap day every four years. Because it doesn't happen every year, there are a few traditions and beliefs that formed around leap days.
"There’s the idea that if you’re born on that day, you’re sort of out of time and space and you're a 'leapling' and he could potentially be lucky or magical," said Pullen. "There’s also a lot of association with it being a day in which you can get away with a lot of stuff you normally could not, a little bit like Mardi Gras or Carnaval, where everyone goes out and party."
Pullen also added that our current calendar won't be accurate forever... luckily we won't have to worry about that for a few centuries or so!
