Leap year traditions and facts

2012 is a leap year and there are many facts and traditions to uncover about the February 29 date.

So why is it that every 4 years there is an extra day in February? The ancient Egyptians were the first to realize that the solar year and the man-made calendar didn't always quite match up.

After some research they realized that the earth takes just a fraction longer than a year to travel around the sun, 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to be exact.

The Romans first designated the 29th of February as leap day, but it was only with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century that an exact algorithm was worked out to deal with the strange phenomenon.

One of the main traditions of leap year is the women asking for a man's hand in marriage. The tradition has been attributed to various historical figures. One, although much disputed, was St Bridget in the 5th Century. She is said to have complained to St Patrick that women had to wait too long for their suitors to propose. St Patrick then supposedly gave women a single day in a leap year to pop the question - the last day of the shortest month.

One other popular story is that Queen Margaret of Scotland brought in a law setting fines for men who turned down marriage proposals put by women on a leap year. Skeptics have pointed out that Margaret was five years old at the time and living far away in Norway. The saying is not said to have become commonplace until the 19th Century.

Another fun fact is that Greek superstition claims that bad luck will come to couples that marry during a leap year. Allegedly one in five engaged couples in Greece will avoid planning their wedding during a leap year.