Happy Leap Day - February 29, 2008

The year 2008 is a leap year. If you look at a 2008 calendar, you will see that February has five Fridays–the month begins and ends on a Friday. Between the years 1904 and 2096, leap years that share the same day of week for each date repeat only every 28 years. The most recent year in which February comprised five Fridays was in 1980, and the next occurrence will be in 2036. February 29, the leap day, has been associated with age-old traditions, superstitions and folklore.

A leap year is a year in which one extra day has been inserted, or intercalated, at the end of February. A leap year consists of 366 days, whereas other years, called common years, have 365 days. In the Gregorian calendar, the calendar used by most modern countries, the following three criteria determine which years will be leap years: Every year that is divisible by four is a leap year; of those years, if it can be divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless the year is divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year.

According to the above criteria, that means that years 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300 and 2500 are NOT leap years, while year 2000 and 2400 are leap years. It is interesting to note that 2000 was somewhat special as it was the first instance when the third criterion was used in most parts of the world. Leap years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the earth's revolutions around the sun. . . . [Learn More about Leap Year]