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It only com os up every
This week's At Ease takes a
look at Leap Year, and the fact
and fallacy surrounding the ori
gins and nature of other com
mon, and not so common, holi
days.
For example: do you know
what Arbor Day is? This day is
dedicated to trees, their beauty
and their preservation. Did you
know that Mother's Day was
founded by a spinster? Did you
know that there actually is a
National Maritime Day on the
calendar? What about Sweetest
Day?
Groundhog Day, Lincoln's
Birthday, Valentine's Day,
Washington's Birthday, and.
every four years. Leap Day are
celebrated in February. Al
though it's the shortest month,
February boasts five major holi
days, is Black History Month,
and recognizes ... how many
millions of birthdays?
Even though Leap Day oc
curs once every four years,
there are several births, deaths,
and events that have happened
on this day that are significant
enough to go down in history.
It's hard to imagine that a day
occuring only every four years
could have had so much hap
pen during 24 hours that would
have world-wide impact, but it
does happen.
Leap Year
1984
Calendar corrected
By LAURI REESE
Stiff Writer
The function of Leap Year is
to keep the calendar in step
with the seasons. It is the "ca
lendar corrector" — introduced
to eliminate inevitable math
ematical and astronomical er
rors.
According to the Journal of
Calendar Reform magazine, it's
extremely difficult to construct
a calendar that coincides exactly
with the tropic or seasonal year
due to the fact that the two rev
olutions involved in determin
ing the length of the day and
the length of the year aren't di
rectly related to each other.
A solar year has 365.24219879
days. That means 365 days, 5
hours, 48 minutes and 46 sec
onds.
Leap Year accounts for those
extra, 5 hours, 48 minutes and
46 seconds.
Leap Year first was recog
nized in Egypt in the first cen
tury B.C., but long before that
even Egyptian mathematician-
priests saw a need for such a
calendar stabilizer.
The Egyptians determined
that the length of the solar year
was approximately 365'/4 days
by measuring the angles and
shadows of the pyramids, and
by sighting fixed stars such as
Sirius, the Journal reported.
The first solar calendar had
months of 30 days each. Four
months made a season. The
three seasons were Flood Time,
Seed Time and Harvest Time.
The year was completed by five
holidays and the fraction re
maining was allowed to accu
mulate, carefully recorded.
According to the Journal, in
46 B.C. Julius Caesar intro
duced the Julian calendar,
which was used for 16 centu
ries. As an early Leap Year mea
sure, Caesar added an extra
month between the 23rd and
24th of February.
But with Caesar's rule of one
Leap Year in every four, the of
ficial calendar year was 11 min
utes longer than the seasonal
year.
A change often was pro
posed, but actually was not put
into effect until 1582. Pope Gre
gory issued his "Papal Bull," in
which the rule was changed so
that after the year 1600, the leap
days of three centurial years in
every four would be omitted.
That is, in every period of 400
years, three Leap Years would
be kept as common years. He
corrected the existing error by
making Oct. 5,1582, the 15th.
While the Catholic countries
generally adopted Pope Grego
ry's improvement, Protestant
Europe didn't agree to it until
the beginning of the 18th cen
tury, the Journal said. Great
Britain and North America
didn't make the change until
1752. The last country to adopt
the new style was Turkey,
which changed in 1927.
An error still exists in today's
calendar, however, and it con
tinues to accumulate, the Jour
nal reported. The error
amounts to 37.3 minutes every
100 years, or one day in 3,861
years.
Matrimony is ladies'
choice in a leap year
By BONNIE LANGFORD
Staff Writer
Leap Year occurs only once
every four years. For the con
firmed bachelor, this may be a
blessing.
The custom of women having
the right to "pop the question"
can be traced back to Queen
Margaret of Scotland. It is be
lieved that in 1288 she decreed,
through Parliament, that dur
ing a leap year any woman
could propose to any man she
chose. The only way the aspir
ing bride could be refused was
if the man could prove he al
ready was engaged.
In all other cases, if the bach
elor did not wish to marry he
had no choice but to break the
law. If he persisted in remain
ing single, he was liable for a
fine of 100 pounds (several hun
dred dollars). In the British
Isles, any man that turned
down the marriage proposal
was required to buy a silk dress
for the amorous lady.
The law soon was adopted in
Genoa, Florence, France, and
England, yet despite the fact
the law was practiced, investi
gation has proven that the act
actually is a myth, and legally
non-existant. Women for hun
dreds of years have based their
"right" on a "legal fiction."
The clever Scottish males
were not to be outwitted by
women interested in matri
mony, however. In Scotland
women who were contemplat
ing using the privilege had to
advertise their intentions by
wearing scarlet flannel petti
coats with the edge clearly visi
ble. This gave the intended
bachelor fair warning.
Though the law was non-
existant, the actual custom can
be traced back to the time of St.
Patrick, when celibacy was not
the order of the day.
According to legend, one day
the saint was approached by St.
Bridget, who was in charge of a
group of nuns. She tearfully
told nim that the nuns were in
revolt because they weren't al
lowed to select a mate.
Though St. Patrick vowed to
remain single, he sympathized
with the women. Total equality
couldn't be allowed, he said,
but he suggested that they
should be able to propose for a
full year, once every seven
years.
St. Bridget still was dissatis
fied, but knew the way to his
heart. She threw her arms
around him, called him "her
jewel," and explained that the
nuns still would be unhappy.
St. Patrick was quick to see
her point and agreed that seven
years might be too long. He
promised, after another hug,
that he would change his mind.
They agreed on once every four
years, in fact the longest year
there is — leap year.
Not one to let opportunity
slip by, St. Bridget immediately
proposed to St. Patrick. Having
taken a vow of celebacy, he had
no choice but to refuse. How
ever, in his natural gallantry, he
softened the blow with a kiss
and a silk dress.
Out of this legend was estab
lished the custom which gave
women the right to a new dress
of silk if they were refused for
matrimony.