The concept of a leap year is something most people don’t think twice about, yet there are many questions as to why this event exists in the first place, and why it is essential to our calendar. The history of this necessary holiday dates all the way back to Caesar’s reign, when these historical icons unearthed the true nature of the modern calendar.

   According to EarthSky, leap days are days added to the February calendar every four years to make up for the Earth’s rotation and synchronization around the sun. Due to the Earth year lasting 365.25 days, the extra .25 needs to be incremented into a day every four years to make up for the year’s quarter-day loss. Leap years are essential because if they didn’t exist, a calendar would be off one day every four years, and, as 100 years pass, the calendar would be off by 25 days (earthsky.org).

   This phenomenon was identified by the ancient Romans. According to ThoughtCo, the origin of the leap year dates back to 45 BC, when Julius Cesar created the first 365-day calendar. Prior to the creation of the modern calendar, the Romans initially had created a 355-day calendar in order to celebrate traditional festivals during a preferred season. However, astronomer Sosigenes calculated the remaining time frame to ultimately calculate the longevity of the modern calendar, which in turn made every fourth year from then on a leap year (thoughtco.com).

   However, despite the discovery from Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, the Julian Calendar didn’t have lasting stability, as some years following the four-year pattern would prove to be problematic for the historical solution. According to EarthSky, Pope Gregory XIII and German Mathematician and Astronomer Christopher Clavius created the Gregorian Calendar, which solved the stabilization problems (earthsky.org).

   The Gregorian Calendar takes into account that years to be adjusted needed to be divisible by four. So, years like 1800 and 1900 wouldn’t fall under leap year requirements because the numerals weren’t divisible by four. While this correction may not make sense, it was entirely necessary to be implemented into the calendar due to the duration of solar years. One solar year lasts 365.2442 days versus a normal year, which lasts 365.25 days (earthsky.org). 

   Sophomore Keira Martin celebrates her birthday on February twenty-ninth, but when there isn’t an additional leap day, she and her family prefer to celebrate her birthday on the twenty-eighth, keeping her birthday in February. “I like being born on the twenty-ninth because it’s something not a lot of people can say,” Martin stated, “It’s always fun to see how people react when I tell them the twenty-ninth is my birthday.” The chances of being born on February 29 are 1 in 1,461, compared to the uniform likeability of 1/365. Since a leap day is seen on our calendar once every four years, Martin’s birthday age is four-years-old, when including birthdays actually falling on February 29.

   Being a part of the 0.07 percent of the world’s population that is born on February 29 is a fortunate and extraordinary feat. For a holiday that is celebrated once every four years, a leap year is essential for our calendar in sync with the seasons. Leap year is incredibly significant. Maybe it should be celebrated as a holiday?

   To account for this extra day, calendars from other cultures have adopted this leap year method. According to a website about time and date, the Jewish, Hindu, and Ethiopian calendars all have strategies for absorbing this extra time. The Jewish and Hindu calendars add an extra month in some years, while the Ethiopian calendar adds a day to its common year calendar. The Ethiopian calendar, like the Julian calendar, is slightly out of sync with the dates for astronomical seasons, like equinoxes and solstices (timeanddate.com).