Firstgens.com

....so I thought I's share some obscure leap year facts.

Most people know that leap year comes approximately every four years and that the reason for

this extra day is because that most calendars are based on the assumption that there are 365

days in a year when in fact, there are actually 365 ¼ days in a year. So, in order to keep our

calendars in sync with the tropical calendar we add an extra day to February every four years.

However, there are several interesting facts about this special day you may not know. Here are a

few fun facts.

* No year that is divisible by 100 can be a leap year unless it can be divided by 400. The

year 2000 was a leap year the year 1900 was not.

* Leap year babies born in the year 1884 did not celebrate a single birthday on their actual

birth date throughout entire teen age years.February 29th fell on the year they turned 12

and then not again until they turned 20.

* The tradition of women proposing to men on leap year day dates all the way back to 5th

century Ireland.

* The very first calendar that provided for leap year was introduced in 238 B.C. By King

Ptolemy.

* People born on leap year’s day are called leaplings.

* Anthony, Texas is the self proclaimed leap year capital of the world. Every year this little

town that sits on the border of New Mexico holds a festival and leap year birthday

celebrations complete with a carnival and hot air balloon rides. People come from all over

the world to celebrate their special birthday in style.

* The chances of having a leap year birthday are 1 in 1,461.

* There are about 4 million people in the world who have been born on February 29th.

David F.

So I'm a leapling. I never knew that is what they called us special people.