Leap year deserves more credit than the tropical year

By: Huntre Keip ’20, editor in chief

Sometime in a child’s life, they will experience ‘leap day’ in school.

Teachers will bring in cupcakes, students will color leaping frogs and ask the obligatory question, “Do you know anyone who was born on leap day?”

But, after that, that’s all you know about leap day.

I’m 22 years old, which will mark my sixth leap year, and I still go back to my third-grade Leap Day party. Otherwise, I knew nothing about the significance of leap day.

What’s the big deal behind it?

It was determined that the Earth takes approximately 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds to circle around the Sun. This is called a tropical year, but it needs a leap year to play catch up. If we didn’t follow this pattern, we would lose almost six hours every year – basically a full night’s sleep for college students.

Who can we thank for this discovery?

It would be Julius Caesar. Yes, Caesar did more than dictating the Roman empire and have a salad dressing named after him.

Caesar was obsessed with improving the yearly calendar. He introduced the Julian calendar in 45 B.C. with leap year in effect. Since then, the Julian calendar transitioned to the Gregorian calendar which is used internationally, but it is still used in today’s Orthodox churches.

So, for this year’s leap day, don’t assume it’s another commercialized holiday like Valentine’s Day – it’s history making.