leap-year

A year is a time period that spans twelve months. In the Gregorian calendar, the year begins on the day January 1 and concludes the December 31st. Year, in addition, can be the unit of time that measures twelve months, although starting on any day (that is, not necessarily the January 1).

Due to the configuration of the months, the years usually have 365 days. The exception is leap years, which have one more day. This means that a leap-year has an extension of 366 days.

The inclusion of an additional day is linked to the difference between the calendar year and the tropic year (the time it takes the planet Land make its orbit around the sun). The tropic year spans 365 days, 5 hours, 48 ​​minutes and 45 seconds. To overcome this gap between the calendar year and the tropical year, every four years a day is added to the calendar year, equivalent to weather that the tropical year has not been counted.

The rule indicates that a year is a leap year when it can be divided by 4, with the exception of the cases in which it is also divisible by 100. If the year is divisible by 4, for 100 and by 400, it is also considered leap and has an extra day.

The years 2016, 2020 Y 2024, for example, are leap years. It should be noted that the additional day is added to the end of February. This month, which usually has 28 days, it happens in this way to have 29 days. In a leap year, therefore, there is the February 29.

On February 29, he awakens in himself a series of myths and legends, since it is the only one that only appears once every four years. In this context, there is a great division between those who interpret it as a source of fortune and those who fear the fatalities that it supposedly brings; one of the phrases used by the latter is "Leap year, neither vineyard nor orchard". It is also believed that people born on that day have a special predisposition to achieve great goals in life.

On the other hand, we must not forget that people born on February 29 they cannot celebrate their birthday normally, and for that reason each country establishes in its regulations civil the rules to solve this problem. In general, the official date on which they must do so is 28; In Spain, for example, non-leap years must be passed at 00:00 hours on the 28th.

Far from being a superficial matter or a whim related merely to a celebration that could well be omitted, the date of birth is very important for legal purposes, since it is linked to concepts such as the age of majority. Although a distance of a few hours may seem insignificant, under the law there are only two possibilities: right and wrong.

Unlike what happens in the Gregorian calendar, the Roman calendar added the leap day after February 24 and, oddly enough, they assigned it the same number: in a nutshell, the Roman calendar had two February 24 during leap years. The reason was that this day was the sixth before kalends of march (the first day of March), and then its duplicate was understood as the "bi-sixth."

The latter brings us to the etymology of the term leap, which in effect derived from the Latin language. In the epoch of the Roman Empire the days were expressed taking into account the time that lacked until the following month arrived; February 24, for example, was "the sixth day before March arrives." For this reason, adding a second day with the same number spoke of the "second sixth."