Heads up! Next year is a Leap Year so we will have 366 days instead of 365. February 29th falls on a Saturday this Leap Year

Here's some random Leap Year facts that I found:

• It takes the Earth a little more than 365 days or approx. 365.242189 (aka 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds) to orbit the Sun.

• In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar was the first person to create the rule of having a Leap Day every four years so that the Spring Equinox would fall appropriately within March 19th-21st.

• In 1582 A.D., Pope Gregory XIII added an additional rule that Leap Years only occur in century years that are divisible by 100 and 400. (For example, 1600, 2000, and 2400 have Leap Years, but the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 did not.) This additional rule makes up for the 11-minute discrepancy that existed with the Julian Calendar system.

• If we didn't use the Leap Year rule, our calendar would be off by 24 days after 100 years.

• Babies who are born on February 29th are called "Leaplings" or "Leapers". It's supposed that only about 0.7% of the population are born on Leap Day. There is only about a 1 and 1,500 change of being born on Leap Day.

• Important events that happened during Leap Years are: the Titanic sinking (1912), Benjamin Franklink discovering electricity (1752), and gold being discovered in Califonia (1848).

• Rumored to have started in 5th century Ireland, there is a tradition that a woman may propose on Leap Day. In 1288 A.D., the tradition continued when Queen Marget of Scotland said on Leap Day, a woman may propose to any man she fancies and the man must accept. If he doesn't, the penalty is either a kiss, a silk dress, or 12 pairs of gloves.

• Many people over in Greece see marrying within a Leap Year as bad luck so 1 in 5 couples avoid marrying during a Leap Year.

• Karin Henriksen of Norway gave birth to three children on consecutive February 29ths – a daughter in 1960 and two sons in 1964 and 1968.

• Since February 29th 2020 lands on a Saturday, that makes March 13th Friday the 13th. If there was no February 29th next year, the next Friday the 13th would actually be in June.

And that's about all the facts I could scrounge up, I hope you enjoyed them!

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Do you have any interesting stories about Leap Day?