February is the shortest month of the year. Most often it has 28 days, but once every four years an unusual date appears on the calendar – February 29. According to statistics, today there are only about 4 million people who have this in the “date of birth” column number. Consequently, many of them celebrate their birthday only once every four years. To avoid such confusion, some parents choose February 28 or March 1 as the date of birth of the child – this is a very common decision. You can tell a lot of interesting things about the rarest day, which is what we will do now.
People born on February 29th are unique, and they have their own approach to birthday celebrations
Contents
- 1 Why is February 29 only once every four years
- 2 How do people born on February 29 live
- 3 How old are people born on February 29
- 4 How to celebrate a birthday February 29
Why is February 29 only once every four years
If a year has the date February 29, then it is aleap year.Additional the date appeared in order to harmonize the Gregorian calendar with the movement of the Earth around the Sun.
Gregorian calendaris the calendar system we use today. It was introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII and includes leap years.
As the name suggests, the Gregorian calendar was invented by Gregory XIII
Scientists once noticed that a year lasts a little more than 365 days – there are an additional 6 hours. It became clear that without adding a new date to February every four years, holidays and seasons began to shift. And celebrating some holidays on the same day was very important, especially in ancient times.
This is how leap years appeared, in which there is an additional day on February 29. It corrects our calendar, allowing us to keep the seasons and dates in place.
Interesting fact:determining a leap year is very simple – it is easily divisible by 4. For example, these were 2012, 2016 and 2020. The current year 2024 is also a leap year, and the next long year will be 2028. My colleague Andrey Zhukov has an excellent article on this topic “Why are Leap years and who invented them.” A must read!
How people born on February 29 live
People who “according to documents” were born on leap day February 29 are unique, because we are talking about0.069% of the Earth's population .If a child was born on this rare date, parents often ask to indicate on the birth certificate the last day of winter, February 28, or the first day of spring, March 1. Usually this is done trivially so that a three-year-old child does not feel sad because his birthday is not on the calendar.
People who choose a rare date as their birthday celebrate the holiday in different ways. For example, on non-leap days, parents give gifts to children on February 28 or March 1 – the tradition of celebrating a holiday on a day chosen in childhood is often carried over into adulthood. Some people born on February 29 receive congratulations two days in a row – friends can give gifts at the end of winter, and relatives at the beginning of spring, as they wish.
There is no strict rule on how to celebrate February 29
Some men and women celebrate the holiday only once every four years, strictly on February 29th. This is a good option for those who do not like noisy parties and want to save money.
How old are people born on February 29
It goes without saying that if a person does not celebrate his birthday every year, this doesn't mean he's younger. A child born on February 29 will not turn one year old until four years after birth – biological age is not tied to the calendar. People born on a leap year age at the same rate as others. However, is it worth explaining?
You will be interested: How was the Mayan calendar structured and how do scientists know about its existence?
How to celebrate a birthday on February 29
For people born on February 29 there is a special “calendar” that provides recommendations on which day to celebrate a birth. It was developed by German professor Heinrich Hemme, and some people happily adhere to it.
There is a recommended birthday celebration routine for those born on the rarest day
According to the Hemme calendar, people born on February 29 can celebrate a holiday every year, but the day of the celebration depends on the hour of birth.
So, if a person was born:
- from midnight to 6 am on February 29—the holiday is best celebrated on February 28;
- from 6 am to 12 noon on February 29 – the first two years celebrate their birthday on February 28, and the third year on March 1;
- from 12 noon to 6 pm on February 29 – the first year’s birthday is celebrated on February 28, and the next two on March 1;
- from 6 pm to 23:59 February 29 – it is better to celebrate March 1.
There are no statistics on how many people stick to this schedule. But the routine looks at least interesting.
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Finally, it is worth noting that in many European countries until the 18th century, the date February 29 was considered non-existent and deprived of legal status. Therefore, on this day people did not enter into transactions such as buying and selling, and also did not lend money. If the documents were dated “February 29,” this could cause problems in court.