Most people are used to 365 days of the year and anything else than that just seems odd but this year happens to be a leap year. Leap years only occur every 4 years and always take place on February 29. But what’s the purpose of leap year and also what do people with birthdays on the 29th of February do when there is February 29?

The leap year was introduced in way back in 1582 whenthey realized that earth’s full rotation was 11 minutes less so they decided to add a day every four days this was put in place by the head of the catholic church which was Pope Gregory XIII.This is still important even in our globalized world as without the Leap year our seasons would be out of place and would not be able to keep up with the calendar.

Although rare there are some people that are born on the 29th. At Palisade Highschool For Example Mrs Raper has a birthday on the 29th.There are only around 5 million people with a birthday on February 29 and they have been given the silly name of leaplings. People who were born after 12 will opt to celebrate on March 1st and people who were born before on the 28th on a normal year but these sometimes can be interchangeable.

I asked Ethan Burks A junior at palisade highschool what he thought about the leap year and he said “I don’t see a problem with leap years” I also wanted to ask if having 29 days on february changes anything and Ethan Said “i don’t see a problem with 29 days it’s not necessarily beneficial but how can it harm us”

Leap year is not really a holiday but still a cool thing. We hope that you take advantage of the 366 days of this year.