What were you like four years ago? In February 2020? What was the most fascinating thing you did that year? Whose shoulder did you cry on? Who did you have that late night call with? Who did you love? What were your dreams?
It’s leap year again, we get a special 29th in February. The intercalary day that usually occurs every four years is called the leap day and is created by adding an extra day to February. This day is added to the calendar in leap years as a corrective measure because the Earth does not orbit the Sun in precisely 365 days. For this spectacular extra day, different countries have different interesting traditions.
An old Irish tale, or possibly fact, states that St Brigid made a bargain with St Patrick every four years to let women ask men to marry them instead of the other way around. A statute enacted in 1288 by Queen Margaret of Scotland mandated that a man must pay a fee ranging from £1 to a silk gown if he refused a leap day proposal. Nevertheless, the queen was under five years old when the rule is reported to have been passed. In addition, rejecting a leap day proposal carries a number of penalties in other parts of the world. Men who would prefer remain unmarried in Denmark are required to gift the woman they reject 12 pairs of gloves.
Getting married in a leap year is regarded as unlucky in Greece. An old myth states that marriages consummated during this period are more likely to end in divorce. It is also not a good idea to get divorced in Greece during a leap year. Another antiquated belief holds that couples who split up during a leap year will never be happy together again.
USA, New Mexico, has proclaimed itself the Leap Year Capital of the World. “Leapers,” or people born on February 29th, come together to commemorate their unique birth day once every four years. The centerpiece of the festivities is a “Mix and Mingle” in the Sombra Antigua Vineyard and Winery, where leapers from as far away as Australia and Europe assemble.
A long-standing custom exists in the southern region of Germany when a young man in love places a tiny liebesmaie (birch tree) adorned with ribbons on his crush’s doorstep on May Day. Instead, the females drop them off at the door of the lad of their dreams during a leap year.
Time flies. Doesn’t it feel like winter term had just started? Doesn’t it feel like your fresh man year was only yesterday? Time flies, and we don’t always acknowledge it. Think of leap day as a reminder, a hint, a bell that tells you, how four years have passed in almost a blink.
So do something special. Tell someone you love them, challenge something, eat breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast, call an old friend, write a letter to yourself four years later and open it on leap day 2028. Time changes almost everything, but maybe four years later you’ll open that letter, looking at how much you have grown during these years, reading your dreams and expectations for the future, maybe you’ll find a whole new perspective of your life.