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 Leaplings live it up By JANE LERNER THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: February 29, 2004) Eleanor Gallagher found the fountain of youth by virtue of her birth date. She celebrates her 17th birthday today — despite having four grown children and five grandchildren. "I think, 'Oh, good. I'm 17,' " she said with a laugh. "But then I look in the mirror and 'I say no, no, I'm really 68.' " Today is Leap Day — that quirk of the calendar that comes around every four years, courtesy of Julius Caesar. It's an exclusive club and membership is available just once every four years for a mere 24 hours. But it attracts little attention and commands even less respect, people born on that day insist. "It's lonely being born on Leap Day," said 44-year-old Orangeburg resident Timmy Finn, who marks his 11th Leap Day birthday today. "Not a lot of people recognize it." As soon as the heart-shaped Valentine's Day cards and party goods are cleared from local store shelves, the green shamrocks come out for St. Patrick's Day. There are no leap frogs or banners in between celebrating the rarest day on the calendar. Hallmark, the nation's leading greeting-card producer, has birthday cards for every occasion — half-birthday, birthday on Halloween, 100th birthday — but it produces only one Leap Day birthday card. The card pokes fun at people who were born on that once-every-four-year day. "A Leap Year Birthday?" the card reads. "It kind of figures you'd be born on the 29th of February. Don't you do anything the way normal people do? Happy Birthday." It's not a big seller, according to the company. "Obviously it's not a very high-demand product," said Hallmark spokeswoman Rachel Bolton. Many people born on Feb. 29 revel in their special birthday — maintaining that they can never really grow old if they age only once every four years. "People kid me about it all the time," said Spring Valley resident Ronell Charles, who, at 28, celebrates his seventh Leap Day birthday today. "They tell me, 'You can't drive, you're not old enough.' " The license plate on Neil Rosenthal's car proclaims his birth date for all the world to see. "Feb29NR" it reads. "I got it in 2000 for my 11th birthday," the 48-year-old New City resident said. Rosenthal and other leaplings, as they call themselves, are demanding more recognition of their unusual birthday. He is a member of the Honor Society of Leap Day babies — a Web site run by an Oregon woman who has made it a mission to get official recognition for Leap Day. Raenell Dawn Cardile Ochampaugh, who was born Feb. 29, 1960, has been working for 20 years to get Leap Day its due. "Leap Day represents balance, order and harmony in the calendar," she said Friday. "It's a day that should be embraced." Leaplings have Caesar to thank for their special day, according to historical accounts. In 46 B.C., Caesar's astronomers measured the solar year as 365 days and six hours. To eliminate the extra one-fourth day each year, the Julian calendar added an extra day to February every fourth year. It became known as Leap Day much later because the English courts did not recognize Feb. 29 and "leapt" over the day as in the game of leapfrog, according to historical accounts. Because the Earth's orbit is actually a little slower than 365 days and six hours, every 100 years Leap Year is not needed — unless the year is divisible by 400. For example, the year 1900 was not a leap year, but the years 2000 and 2004 are. All the world observes an extra day every fourth February, Ochampaugh said. That's why there should be worldwide recognition of Leap Day, she said. "It's a world holiday — the one day when the entire world observes a peaceful day with no religion, no culture, just an extra day," she said. In addition to maintaining the Honor Society of Leap Day babies — a worldwide registry of people born on Feb. 29 — she also runs a Web site www.leapzine.com — a comprehensive listing of everything connected with Leap Day that urges people who share the birthday to "enjoy your Leapness." The site boasts a Leapzeum — a historical archive with Leap Day-related artifacts including such oddities as a 1921 silent film titled "Leap Year" starring Fatty Arbuckle, sheet music for a 1942 Leap Year polka and a 1960 copy of Mad Magazine's special Leap Year Issue showing Alfred E. Newman leaping between two cliffs. It also has a copy of a 1956 Scottish Leap Year law that gave "the right to any maiden to select and keep the man of her choice," and a 1960s recipe from the Lancaster County Farm Cook Book for Leap Day cake. Then there's the 1976 DC comic book special "Superheros' War Against the Monsters," in which the Green Lantern battles the Leap Year Menace. Ochampaugh also is founder of the Leap Day project, which lobbies calendar companies to mark Feb. 29 as Leap Day. She sends letters to elected officials asking that Leap Day be recognized as an official holiday. "It should be recognized for the special day it is," said Rosenthal, who has sent his share of letters to calendar companies asking that Leap Day get as least as much attention as Groundhog Day, which also falls in February. Chestnut Ridge resident Bonnie Wind enrolled her husband, David, in the Leap Year honor society. Producers of the Late Show with David Letterman contacted David Wind through the listing and he was one of 10 people with birthdays today who each ticked off an item on Letterman's Top 10 List on Friday night. Some leaplings make a point of having an extra-special celebration on their once-every-four-years birthday. "You wait so long for your real birthday that you really want to make a big deal about it when it finally gets here," said Patricia Schuldin, a 48-year-old Airmont resident who marks her 12th birthday today. She will join 21 family members and friends who will attend a medieval banquet to celebrate. "In my house, I get teased a lot on the years when there is no Feb. 29 that I don't really have a birthday," said. "So when it is a Leap Day, we make a big deal about it. It's a very special day for me." Reach Jane Lerner at jlerner@thejournalnews.com or 845-578-2458.Reach Jane Lerner at jlerner@thejournalnews.com or 845-578-2458. Copyright 2004 |
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Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies |
