Leap Year: Make the Most of Your Extra Day

Once every four years, we experience what we call a “leap year.” This is a year when an extra day is added to the month of February to account for the technicalities of rounding time when counting the days of the year. While we’ll leave the science of time to the pros, we’ll take you through some traditions and superstitions that have come about due to this special day as well as some ideas on how to spend your extra time.

Traditions and Superstitions:
Still in the season of love, many leap year traditions are focused around love and relationships.

• Marriage and Anniversaries: In Greek and Italian culture, getting married or sharing an anniversary has been seen as bad luck and attributed to higher divorce rates. 
  
• Proposals: In Ireland, February 29th is known as Bachelor’s Day or Ladies’ Privilege, a time for women to turn the tables and propose to their men. This has come with a long history and a number of practices that go along with it.
  
• Birch Trees: In Germany, women were encouraged to participate in a standing tradition of decorating a birch tree to prove their love to their intended partner.
  
• Births: In Greek, Scottish, and German culture, the leap year is generally viewed as “luckless,” especially for those who are born on the leap day, February 29th.
  
• News Satire: In France, a newspaper is published only on February 29th and it is entirely satirical- fake and humorous. While this is the least published newspaper of all time, it is known to outsell the regular paper on the day it is published due to its rarity. 

How to Spend Your Extra Time:

1. Take a self-care day. Dedicate this time to bettering yourself outside of your normal routine.
2. Make plans and goals to leap into over the next 4 years.
3. Spend time in nature. Enjoy the extra day of fresh air and sunshine. 
4. Make a Leap Year Time Capsule. Place important things from your life into a box and put them in a safe place until the next leap year! This can include a photo from the day, the newspaper or print-out of a breaking news article, a list of your favorite foods, something from the job you’re working at, etc.
5. Pay it Forward: show someone some love by paying it forward. This can look like offering to babysit for family or a neighbor so they can go out, paying for someone’s meal in a drive through or restaurant, or bringing someone flowers or a treat as a surprise
6. Watch the Movie “Leap Year”

How do you plan on celebrating the special day? Share your leap year activities with us on Facebook! We hope you have a hopping time!