Today marks an extra day on the calendar on which students forced to attend classes at the University of Mississippi.
Every four years, a phenomenon befalls man as an imparity between the solar system and the Gregorian calendar that grants us an extra 24 hours, known across the world as Leap Day. This oddity happens because the Earth’s orbit around the sun lasts, in total, 365.2422 days. As a result, leap seconds and leap years are recorded to match our clocks and calendars with the earth’s seasons.
As most unusual events tend to create a spark in the imagination of man, leap day is not without its strange traditions. Perhaps the strangest is a custom that most likely began in fifth century Ireland, when Saint Bridget complained to Saint Patrick about how long women were waiting for their suitors to propose. As a sort of compromise, Saint Patrick is said to have given women a chance to propose to men once every four years on Feb. 29.
Some countries held true to this tradition, and even penalized men under the law if they refused a woman’s proposal. Denmark would require the man to buy the woman 12 pairs of gloves to hide her absence of an engagement ring, and therefore hide her embarrassment.
In Finland, the barter for a turned down hand was fabric for the woman to make a new skirt.
The chances of having a leap birthday are one in 1,461. To recognize such an achievement, there’s an official honors society for those lucky enough to be born on Feb. 29, known as The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies. It’s always interesting to hear how leap day babies celebrate their rare birthday.
One Ole Miss student, sophomore marketing and corporate relations major Stephanie Smith, is celebrating her fifth birthday this year. On non-leap years, she opts to celebrate on Feb. 28.
“Growing up, a lot of kids didn’t really understand what leap year was or how it worked, so I would have to explain it,” Smith said. “Actually, a lot of people now still don’t know what leap year is.”
Smith said she never does anything unusual when she gets to celebrate on leap day except a family joke in which she gets a cake proclaiming how old she is in leap years.
“It’s cool to say that I have my birthday on leap day, but it actually kind of sucks not having your actual birthday every year,” Smith said.
Several other notable events fall during leap years that help to mark the occasion. The Summer Olympic games are always held in a leap year, as well as the U.S. presidential elections. Couples in Greece are said to avoid marrying during a leap year, as it is believed to bring bad luck in love.
In true order, Rare Disease Day is officially celebrated on Feb. 29.
Being afforded an extra 24 hours in the year 2016 may inspire some to use the time to do something they wouldn’t do on a normal day. A popular phrase seems to echo out of the mouths of many who think “there aren’t enough hours in a day.”
Maybe today will offer some the chance to live a little extra, but for most of us students, we’ll still be slumming it in the basement of J.D. Williams doing an extra day’s worth of homework.
