I don’t know if you’ve given it much thought,
but February is the month in which we get the least amount of sleep. Of course,
it’s also the month when we eat the least and work the least. And if you still
haven’t figured out why, it might help to mention that this February—and every
fourth February—we do all those things a little more than other Februarys.
A year with an extra day in it should provide
all kinds of reasons to celebrate, shouldn’t it? An extra day to finish your
tax returns. An extra day’s pay for hourly employees (although not so great for
salaried folks). And when your birthday rolls around, you’re still only a year
older in spite of the extra day.
In 45 B.C., Julius Caesar’s astronomer,
Sosigenes, calculated the need for a Leap Year and we’ve been leaping ever
since. According to an article in Readers Digest by Brandon Specktor, it takes
the earth roughly 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to complete one
full rotation around the sun. Those extra hours would accumulate and throw us
off kilter if we never scheduled a leap year. Without it, we’d eventually be
rising as the sun sets and turning in when it rises, like the owls and bats.
The extra day gets our calendar and clock back
on track with the sun… well, except for every once in a while when scientists
decide we need an extra second as well, like we enjoyed in 2015. (What did you
do with yours?) Since 1972, the International Earth Rotation and Reference
Systems Service has periodically added extra seconds—called leap seconds—on
either June 30 or December 31 to compensate for the mismatch between atomic
clocks and Earth’s actual rotation.
Now you know.
What you might not know is a little trivia
about Leap Day. For example, according to the World Heritage Encyclopedia, the
British-born James Milne Wilson, who later became the eighth premier of
Tasmania, was born and died on a leap day. Wilson arrived on February 29, 1812,
and died on February 29, 1880 at the age of 68. Although you could call it his
17th birthday. What are the odds?
And did you know about the old tradition that
says women can propose marriage to men on February 29? If the man refuses, he
must give the woman money or buy her a new dress. Leapin’ lizards! I’m glad
that one went out of vogue in the early 1900s. I’m pretty sure women can
propose to men any day of the year if they wish to. And as to money or a new
dress, “no means no” should work both ways.
Finally, should you need a few jokes or riddles
for February 29, keep in mind that Leap Day is the day kids play hopscotch, lawyers
jump to conclusions, and surgeons perform hoperations. I can hear you groaning
from here.
I’m incredibly grateful I’m not the one to calculate
when we need an extra day or second to keep our lives orderly. I’m glad we have
people smart enough for all that. And I’m even more thankful for a God who holds
the universe together with his powerful hand. He is the God of all my days.
“Then God said, ‘Let lights appear in the sky
to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons,
days, and years…’” (Genesis 1:14)