Why do we have leap years?

POSTED BY QBert on Feb 28 under 2012, Newz, vidz

Tomorrow is February 29th, a date which happens but once every 4 years . All the other years, February reaches 28 days and then gives way to March. When you really stop and think about it, what a bizarre thing to do. In my mind it makes the day into something of a paranormal event in a way, flickering in and out of existence. I am sure everyone has considered the situation of the person born on this fateful day…a person born on February 28, 2000 would have only celebrated only 3 birthdays on the date s/he was truly born on. So, why is our calendar set up like this? Why have we created this day that only happens once every 4 years?

Everyone knows that a year contains 365 days. But that number is not exact, it is rounded off. The actual time it takes our Earth to make its way around the sun is actually 365.24219 days (5 hours, 48 minutes, 46 seconds per year extra). So basically, we experience 1/4 of a day every year beyond 365 complete days, which ever four years adds up to an additional day which must be accounted for in order to keep our calendar system in sync with the celestial cycles that the calendar system works within. If we didn’t account for the leap year day, then eventually our holidays that are based upon certain seasonal changes and times would drift away from their original date. Imagine Easter as the trees’ leaves are changing colors and falling off, and imagine the 4rth of July in the snow…not too mention that the solstice and equinox calendar dates would also be thrown off.

Here’s a video about the tradition of women proposing marriage to men on leap year days. I never heard of it before neither…

Here’s a video showing the growing number of Americans who wish to abolish leap year entirely in favor of a new calendar system that takes the lost time into account.