Thursday 29 February 2024

Why Do We Have Leap Year?

Quick summary
  • Leap years exist in order to keep the seasons from drifting in time during the calendar year. During a leap year, the calendar includes an extra day, February 29.
  • Leap years occur every 4 years except for century years that are not divisible by 400 (such as 2000).
  • The concept of a leap year was introduced by the Julian calendar in 46 BCE, which repeated February 24 every four years.
  • The leap in leap year refers to how a calendar day figuratively “leaps” forward a day of the week during a leap year.
Learn more here

2 comments:

Lu said...

I didn't know the English term for the Spanish "bisiesto". Neither did I know its Latin origin - “bis sextus dies ante Kalendas Martii”, “repeated twice on the sixth day before March 1” - So the Romans had two days with the same number every four years! Isn't it amazing?

Miguel Ángel said...

It is!