29th Febuary

Thirty days hath September

April, June and November

All the rest have thirty-one

Excepting February alone

Which hath but twenty-eight, in fine

Till leap year gives it twenty -nine.

- Old saying

I have to write on this day because it will be another four years before I can do the same. It's the 29th of Febuary...that only come every 4 years, the next will be on 2012.

Here's a little child information for those who still don't understand why we have an extra day every four years...for those who knew...skip this part

The common understanding is that the earth took a 365 days to complete its solar cycle, but the truth is it the cycle is completed in 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 12 seconds. (about 365.24219 days)

But since keeping a calendar with all the hours, minutes and seconds is a real pain, the Gregorian calendar panel decided to throw in an extra day every four years in hope the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox. (For those living in 4 seasons country, they always have to forward their watch by an hour on this day).

However even by adding the 0.25 day x 4 = 1 once every 4 years, the calendar still is off mark, sending the season off their respective month eventually. Therefore we skip a few leap year..like the year century that can't be devided by 400 like 1800, 1900, 2100 and 2200.

Somehow even doing this we will still have a 1 day off by every 4000 years. Since we are not going to live that long we just hope that people in the future will find a way to address the problem.

You may ask why the fuss for a day...its only a day, its not like the world going to end. It is for a moment but in years to come... how do we get around potential disasters resulting from a few misplaced numbers like snow falling in July and sunbathing in November. Thanks to a team of abacus-toting scientists and mathematicians and 1600 years of modern-day calendar fine tuning...we will never find out.

A few interesting fact relating to the 29th of Febuary:

1. If you are a woman tired of waiting for engagement ring..you get to propose on this day. This tradition originates in Ireland in the 5th century, when St. Bridget convinced St. Patrick to allow one day that a woman could propose. If the man refused, he was fined....hehehe what a sweet revenge.

2. In Greece it is believed that getting married in a leap year is bad luck for the couple. Thus, mainly in the middle of the past century, couples avoided setting a marriage date in a leap year...hey its probably is bad..you only get to celebrate your anniversary once in four years..

3. In DC comic..Superman was said to be born on this day to ensure he is forever young and to tune his age with the one on Krypton.

Day, n. A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent. Ambrose Bierce