Show leap year Is with Us again and heres what causes it keeps K seasons in ill order gives fair maidens their Chal cliance leI I 1 till tills s Is leap year anil and february y 29 is the cause of it nut but the cause of F february 20 29 dates back to 40 13 0 when the astronomers natron omers of julius caesar figured out that the solar year the time it takes the earth to complete its ita orbit around tile sun san was wag days and six hours the sli six hours stumped them until they decided to add an extra day to every fourth year and make thit day february 20 tills this Is leap year because the extra day causes tile the calendar to leap over it a day of the ho week after february 29 ordinarily the calendar rotates just ono one day because Is one over 52 seven day weeks thus thug march I 1 foll fell on friday last year but will fall on sunday instead of saturday tills year pope suppresses ten days tho the julian astronomers have the thing town down pat however for fop tho the solar year Is actually om days 5 hours 43 48 minutes and seconds ry by tile time pope gregory XIII decided to net act in 1682 1582 A P D tile the dates of the iho year find shifted 10 days out of season to correct tills this pope gregory ordered flint Oct olier 5 1682 1582 be made october 15 1582 to talce care of vie the discrepancy oc burring pope gregorys gregoras Gre gorys astronomers decided that leap year should be on omitted it it ed on e very every century year not divisible by leap leal year wont be sur suppressed pressed again until 2100 A D anyway leap year lias has a more romantic aspect ity by tradition it if not by practice it Is the time a woman can propose marria marriage go to a man the origin of tills counter attack in tile tho love suit Is 18 less satisfactorily explained than the julian and gregorian rian calendars but apparently margaret of norway who became queen of scotland started the thing in 1288 A D by saying there ought to be a law site she decreed that during tho the leap years of her reign every mayden kadyo of botho highe and lowe estala shall hae liberte to be bespeak speake eyo ye man she likes and if a bachelor like taking tile the proponent to bo be ills lawful 11 wyte wyre he could bo be mulched mulcted ted fined one pound or less ills only but was to bo be already engaged calendar accepted rapidly tile tho gregorian calendar was accepted in ili italy spain and Vor portugal on the some same day it was ordered in homo In it was nna accepted lie lic foro fore the year was ended and in 1583 1581 by the catholic states of germany the gorwan states slates rp ro talked tile tho julian calendar cilc nilar until 1700 when alien sweden and denmark also changed to tile tho gregorian or deiv new style calendar russia held beld to t tile tho 1 julian calendar until the soviet union was formed in great britain the julian calendar was abolished by theace alic act ot of 1750 that same year saw the change in the lie british ih C colon loa in amerl america cn the birthday of george washington which was ag february 11 under tinder th the julian ca calendar londar behanic february 22 when tile change occurred Chic rigo tribune |