Leap Day is celebrated today on Google Doodle in honor of 2024, a leap year that happens every four years. Every four years, February 29th is added as an extra day to the calendar to celebrate Leap Day.
In celebration of Leap Day, which occurs on February 29 every four years, the Google Doodle depicts a happy frog leaping to keep our calendars in line with the sun and Earth.
Leap Day is observed only every four years, and to celebrate, an animation features the number 29 in the center of the Google logo. The extra day in February is represented by the digit that falls between the numbers 28 and 1.
What is Leap Day?
Years that can be broke equally by 400 or that are multiples of four experience leap days. The majority of years that are divisible by four, including 2024, 2028, and 2032, have the date February 29 added to them.
Following four years, the year 2024 is here with an extra day in February, bringing the total number of days in a year down to 366 from 365. They refer to this extra day as “Leap Day”.
A leap day occurs when the Earth takes about 6 hours longer to orbit the sun than the normal 365 days. To compensate for this discrepancy, leap days have been added to various solar calendars, and the Gregorian calendar is the standard in most parts of the world. In contrast, a lunisolar calendar based on the phases of the moon allows for the addition of intercalary months or leap.
You can synchronize your calendar with the Earth’s orbit by adding a leap day every four years. People around the world celebrate Leap Day with strange traditions, folklore, and superstitions. People born on February 29th are called “leaplings.” According to the Guinness Book of World Records, there is a leap day world record holder from the same family, with three generations in a row born on February 29th.
Why is February shorter than other months?
The extra day in February is a feature of the Gregorian calendar system, established by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. was introduced. The selection of February as the date for this addition was based on historical and practical considerations. The original Roman calendar, on which the Gregorian calendar was based, had 10 months with a total of 304 days. February was considered unfavorable as the last month of the year and therefore had the least number of days. When the calendar was reformed, February was set aside for an additional day to better align the calendar with the approximate length of the solar year, 365.25 days. This adjustment kept other months on a relatively consistent 28-day cycle and minimized disruption to the fixed dates of religious and other important events on the calendar.
Why does February only have 28 days?
Due to history and calendar adjustments, February has the least number of days in the calendar year. The Roman calendar, on which many modern calendars are based, originally had 10 months totaling 304 days. February was the last month and had the least number of days.
This is due to a simple mathematical fact. The sum of an odd set of even numbers (12 months) is always equal to an even number. And he wanted the sum to be an odd number. So Numa chose February, the month when Roman rituals honoring the dead, to be held, as an unlucky month for 28 days.
