By Jay Jamison
The publication date of this edition of The Source is February 29, making this the leap year edition. There won’t be another leap year edition for another four years. Calendars are weird things. Some months have 30 days, some have 31, and February, weirdest of all, usually has twenty-eight days — except this year.
Speaking of the year, most years have 365 days, except this year there are 366 days. The length of a day has been measured since antiquity by the rising of the sun and its setting. The length of that interval changes depending on the season. Even before clocks were invented, anyone living in the higher latitudes noticed that days are longer in summer and shorter in the winter. The story gets a little bit less sensible when time is divided into days and months. This was especially the case in the days when it was thought the earth was at the center of the universe and many civilizations created calendars based on the movements of the moon. My brain hurts just thinking about it. The seasons have next to nothing to do with lunar appearances.
To make up for the complex problems of lunar calendars, Julius Caesar commanded in 46 B.C. the creation of a new calendar, now known as the Julian calendar. It had 365 days in a year, and added one additional day every four years, just as we do today. The Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and is the calendar most of us use today. The problem to be solved by these calendars is that it takes the earth 365.2422 days to make one circuit around the sun. That extra day tacked onto February in leap years accounts for the extra fraction, roughly a quarter of a day, that is lost counting only 365 days each year. However, that sensible calendar corrective raises additional problems.
It would interesting to hear how parents explain to their child born on February 29, why his or her birthdate only appears on calendars every four years. Such an explanation could make the Santa Claus story sound perfectly logical by comparison. Responding with, “Well, you were born during leap year on February 29,” probably won’t cut it. By the time parents concoct a coherent explanation — in their own minds as well as their child’s — the kid will probably be old enough to drive. Of course, a precocious kid could argue that on his or her actual birthdate, every four years, they should be entitled to four times as many presents as non-leap year birthday kids receive annually. Such a kid may have a bright future as a lawyer.
Other injustices occur because of leap year. Last March I wrote about holidays and feast days on the old church calendar. Every day of the year is set aside to commemorate some saint, martyr or person of honor, including leap day of leap year. I wrote, “On February 29, the old church calendar recognizes Oswald, bishop of Worcester and York. Why Oswald didn’t make the cut like the others who pop up at least once a year, and instead is only celebrated every four years, is not entirely clear. However, every four years you can justify indulging in a dram of the good stuff, by raising a flagon to bishop Oswald.”
Our day has come! Here’s to you bishop Oswald! Cheers!
