This year is a leap year so there will be a Feb. 29.
As children some of us first learned about leap years through the saying - 30 days has September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31, except February, 28 days clear, and 29 in each leap year.
I still rely on reciting those lines to know how many days a month has if a calendar is not within my reach.
Thinking back, the first time I met someone who was personally impacted by a leap year was in elementary school in Nelson, B.C.
One day Sister Virginia told some of us girls she was a teenager.
We looked at her incredulously, as she stood there in her long black habit as she must have been in her 50s at the time.
That’s when she smiled and announced she was born on Feb. 29, hence her real birthday was only every four years.
As an adult I learned about the Irish tradition of advising people propose for marriage on Feb. 29 because it was good luck.
Friends got engaged that day and I’d never heard of the tradition before until they told me why.
A quick search on the internet about the tradition brought me to the Atlas Language School website which noted it was thought in the past on Feb. 29, women could propose to their lovers and the gentlemen had to say yes.
In 1288, Scottish royalty passed a law that gave the right to all women to ask for a man’s hand in marriage on Feb. 29 and the day was also known as Bachelor’s Day for this reason.
Fast forward to 2024, and I think it would be difficult to determine if that’s even a thing.
Scientifically, leap years exist for the calendar to make up for seconds accumulated over the previous three years due to the rotation of the Earth.
According to the Smithsonian Institute, leap years are not always every four years because by adding a leap day every four years, the calendar is extended by 44 minutes and that begins to add up as well.
The year 2000 was a leap year, but the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not and the next time a leap year will be skipped is the year 2100,.
Statistically four million people in the world are born on a leap year.
Leap day babies are called leapers or leaplings and there is a one in 1,461 chance of being a leap day baby.
I would love to know how many Tribune readers were born on Feb. 29 or proposed on that day.
If you let me know, I’ll add that to the online version of this column.
READ MORE: Celebrating your 1st anniversary 4 years later: Leap Day couples share
READ MORE: VIDEO: B.C. leap-year siblings ‘leapies’ celebrate 14th, 15th, birthdays together
Don’t miss out on reading the latest local, provincial and national news offered at the Williams Lake Tribune. Sign up for our free newsletter here.