Every four years, we have an extra day on our calendar, February 29. This year is a leap year, and I’m left wondering why we have a leap year in the first place. As it turns out, without leap years, you might be trading in, jumping in your pools on Memorial Day weekend, for ice skating, and drinking hot chocolate. 

Now, you may ask yourself, “What does that mean?” Leap years occur because of the difference between the calendar year and the earth’s orbit. While we know one year equals 365 days, the Earth takes 365 days and 6 hours to orbit the sun. Think of it like this. When the ball drops on December 31st, the earth still has six more hours until an entire revolution has occurred. This quarter of a day wouldn’t affect us initially, but after a few centuries, we’d be singing “Jingle Bells” in the blistering heat, those of us on the East Coast that is. 

So the question is, who made the leap year and do we still need it? The difference between the Earth’s orbit and the calendar caused disorder and disarray for centuries. Major ancient civilizations like China, Egypt, and later the Roman Empire made solutions, but nothing worked well enough until Pope Gregory XIII put the Gregorian calendar into place. Not everyone uses this calendar system, however, and many cultures have found alternative ways of making up for the extra 6 hours at the end of every year. For example, the Buddhist calendar adds a leap month every 2-3 years and a leap day 11 times in 57 years. It seems a little complicated if you’re asking me. But it gets the job done, I guess.

The United States does occasionally skip the leap year. The rules around that involve dividing and other math. If you want to go down that rabbit hole, a quick Google search will give you some interesting reading. The short answer is that the last time a leap year was skipped was in 1900. We’re due for another skip in the year 2100. 

So is adding an extra day every four years worth it? Over 350,000 Americans would say yes, those being leap-year babies, who on non-leap years have to celebrate their birthdays on February 28th or more popularly, March 1. For me, I say yes if it means I can keep wearing my favorite shorts every July. And practically speaking, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.