It’s Leap Year again
Elizabeth Roberts
Special to Navarre Press

If you aren’t already aware, 2004 is a leap year. For those wishing for more time in their schedule
February’s extra day is a wonderful gift. But what is leap year anyway?

The simple answer is that a leap year has 366 days rather than the traditional 365 days in non-leap
years. The extra day is added at the end of February, giving it 29 days instead of the usual 28.

It is a year in which the extra day is added to the calendar in order to synchronize it with the seasons.
Because a tropical year is actually 365.242 days long, a leap year must be added about every four
years to keep the seasons on track.

The reason for these rules, according to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, is to bring
the average length of the calendar year into line with the length of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
In this way, the seasons will always occur during the same months each year.

The U.S. Naval Observatory explains that years which are evenly divisible by four are leap years. But,
if the year is the last year of a century, e.g. 1800, 1900, 2000, it is only a leap year if it is divisible by
400. For example, the year 2000 was a leap year, but years such as 1800 and 1900 were not.

The last leap year was also the beginning of the new millennium, 2000. According to the National Center
for Health Statistics, 11,645 babies were born in the United States on leap day, Feb.29, 2000.

“If you are born on February 29th,” Raenell Dawn, leap year day baby activist and host of
www.leapyearday.com, “then you are a leap year day baby, or a leap day baby, but not a leap year baby
 Leap year lasts all year long, leap day is February 29th.”

Perhaps the most interesting question is when does a leap day baby celebrate his birthday in a
non-leap year? The consensus from leap day babies seems to be whenever it feels most comfortable.
Some celebrate on Feb.28 because they were born in that month. Others celebrate on March 1 because
they were born the day after Feb. 28. And a few celebrate throughout the entire month of February.

Regardless of when a leap day baby celebrates his or her birthday, however, he is not his next, legal age
until after midnight of February 28. So, if you turn 21 in a non-leap year remember, you can’t buy beer until
March 1st!

So, what are the chances of being a leap day baby? According to The Honor Society of leap year day
babies, there is a one in 1,461 chance of being born on leap year day.

Whether you are an actual leap year day baby, or a ‘wanna be,’ you can celebrate leap year at the
Worldwide Leap Year Festival in Anthony, N.M./Texas (right on the border of both states), Feb. 26-29, 2004.