It's that time of year-- the kind that only comes once every four years. Yes folks, it's February 29th! But before taking out the confetti and fireworks, my dear readers should first know just why February 29th graces us with its presence only every four years.

And so, a little quiz:
How many days are there in one year?

Most of you would say 365 or 365.25. Well, the latter is correct!

But since we obviously can't have a quarter of a day in the real sense, we add up the 1/4 of 4 years, giving-- 1 whole day. Which we consequently just add to the month of February as an extra day.

But why do we have to add that extra day? If you think about it, time could go on for an eternity and the extra 1/4 day could just go by unnoticed. Why not just allow the "normal" calendar to function, without taking into consideration the February 29 anomaly? Simple. To allow the seasons to occur at the same time each year.

Picture this-- you and your friend are on two swings side by side. You start swinging in time with each other. But somewhere, somehow, along the way, you two go out of sync. You try to align yourselves again, but no matter how many times you try, you both never end up swinging in phase. (Pardon my Physics jargon. :P)

To prevent something like that from happening to the seasons, February 29 was added. The extra day keeps the calendar and our seasons in harmony. This allowed farmers in the old days to keep track of the harvest period. Cool eh?

BUT! There aren't 365.25 days in a year. There're actually approximately 365.242374 days in the vernal equinox, which is what our calendar strives to achieve. Our current calendar (Gregorian Calendar) has 365.2425 days. The tiny difference results in a day being off every 8,000 years. Which is probably why those years that are divisible by 8,000-- although leap years by right-- won't be counted as leap years.

Okay, I'm guessing that that last part has probably got all your heads spinning by now. :P Well, not to worry! It won't affect you in this lifetime anyway. So my friends, I really hope this has enlightened you in one way or another, if not only for me to pay tribute to the geniuses who invented the Gregorian Calendar. Cheers!



...We hope you enjoyed that short lecture by Karissa in commemoration of Leap Year. Tune in next time for... *freaky music plays* ...The Ides of March! Muhahaha!