Leap day "traditions"

[Poiponen13]

Next year there is again a Leap Day (Feb 29), which is on Thursday. I just came up with an idea: I feared leap day when I was younger (until 7-8 years ago), so I would propose that Leap Day would bring US and other places close to a standstill: there would be no sporting events, public transport would not run, taxis would not be available, shops would be closed and if it is on Sunday (next 2032) then there would be no church services. Everyone would hide in their homes.

[hotdogPi]

Leap seconds have definitely caused certain websites/online services/etc. to stop working.

[Poiponen13]

Leap seconds have definitely caused certain websites/online services/etc. to stop working.

Luckily these have not been added since end of 2016. I would fear very much if there were leap minutes or leap hours.

[1995hoo]

I think it would be more likely that the private-sector law firms would increase their attorneys' billable-hour requirements for that year.

[abefroman329]

I think it would be more likely that the private-sector law firms would increase their attorneys' billable-hour requirements for that year.

And everyone who's salaried would see slightly smaller paychecks.

[Poiponen13]

I, on the other hand like leap years because they are special. Next (leap) year is year GF (dominical letter). In such years, beginning of DST in Europe is on its latest possible date, March 31, and because leap years have earliest sunrises and latest sunsets for any given calendar date, the earliest possible non-DST sunrises and latest possible non-DST sunsets occur in such years (once every 28 years).

[Max Rockatansky]

Next year there is again a Leap Day (Feb 29), which is on Thursday. I just came up with an idea: I feared leap day when I was younger (until 7-8 years ago), so I would propose that Leap Day would bring US and other places close to a standstill: there would be no sporting events, public transport would not run, taxis would not be available, shops would be closed and if it is on Sunday (next 2032) then there would be no church services. Everyone would hide in their homes.

But why do any of that?  Being inside sucks and if the recent pandemic taught us anything it is that a crap ton of people don't like to be mandated to stay home.

[JayhawkCO]

I think it would be more likely that the private-sector law firms would increase their attorneys' billable-hour requirements for that year.

And everyone who's salaried would see slightly smaller paychecks.

How do you figure? When you're salaried, you get the exact same paycheck. Lesser $/hr though for sure.

[kphoger]

I would propose that Leap Day would bring US and other places close to a standstill: there would be no sporting events, public transport would not run, taxis would not be available, shops would be closed and if it is on Sunday (next 2032) then there would be no church services. Everyone would hide in their homes.

Why?

Also, it sound like an absence of traditions.

[Poiponen13]

I would propose that Leap Day would bring US and other places close to a standstill: there would be no sporting events, public transport would not run, taxis would not be available, shops would be closed and if it is on Sunday (next 2032) then there would be no church services. Everyone would hide in their homes.

Why?

Also, it sound like an absence of traditions.

Because it is a special day, occurring only every four years.

[hotdogPi]

I would propose that Leap Day would bring US and other places close to a standstill: there would be no sporting events, public transport would not run, taxis would not be available, shops would be closed and if it is on Sunday (next 2032) then there would be no church services. Everyone would hide in their homes.

Why?

Also, it sound like an absence of traditions.

Because it is a special day, occurring only every four years.

So is Inauguration Day in the US, and the Summer Olympics opening ceremony, and the World Cup final. We don't hide in our houses for those.

[Poiponen13]

I would propose that Leap Day would bring US and other places close to a standstill: there would be no sporting events, public transport would not run, taxis would not be available, shops would be closed and if it is on Sunday (next 2032) then there would be no church services. Everyone would hide in their homes.

Why?

Also, it sound like an absence of traditions.

Because it is a special day, occurring only every four years.

So is Inauguration Day in the US, and the Summer Olympics opening ceremony, and the World Cup final. We don't hide in our houses for those.

But it is an additional day, and normally there is just 28 days in February.

[kphoger]

Because it is a special day, occurring only every four years.

I could get behind that, I suppose.  Kind of like how New Year's Day is a holiday for no good reason other than the calendar (although that calendar is at least arbitrarily tied to new moons or solstices or whatever stuff like that, whereas Leap Day isn't in quite the same way).  So yeah, I could see it being a holiday.

That still doesn't explain everyone hiding in their houses, though...

[1995hoo]

Because it is a special day, occurring only every four years.

So is Inauguration Day in the US, and the Summer Olympics opening ceremony, and the World Cup final. We don't hide in our houses for those.

Some people in the DC area more or less hide in their houses for Inauguration Day because it's so darn hard to get around with all the road closures and other security issues.

[abefroman329]

Because it is a special day, occurring only every four years.

So is Inauguration Day in the US, and the Summer Olympics opening ceremony, and the World Cup final. We don't hide in our houses for those.

Some people in the DC area more or less hide in their houses for Inauguration Day because it's so darn hard to get around with all the road closures and other security issues.

That is exactly what I did in January 2009.

January 2005 and January 2013, the only other Presidential inaugurations that took place while I lived in DC, were pretty much business-as-usual, though.

[abefroman329]

I think it would be more likely that the private-sector law firms would increase their attorneys' billable-hour requirements for that year.

And everyone who's salaried would see slightly smaller paychecks.

How do you figure? When you're salaried, you get the exact same paycheck. Lesser $/hr though for sure.

That's the thing, though; my employer calculates my paycheck using my hourly rate and the number of "hours" I've worked (8 per day, regardless of how long I actually worked that day), and the hourly rate will be slightly smaller when it's calculated assuming a 366-day calendar year.

[skluth]

It should be moved to June 30th so it feels like an extra day of summer instead of an extra day in winter

[kphoger]

It should be moved to June 30th so it feels like an extra day of summer instead of an extra day in winter

But we already have a June 30th.

[Poiponen13]

It should be moved to June 30th so it feels like an extra day of summer instead of an extra day in winter

But we already have a June 30th.

June 31st.

[JayhawkCO]

I think it would be more likely that the private-sector law firms would increase their attorneys' billable-hour requirements for that year.

And everyone who's salaried would see slightly smaller paychecks.

How do you figure? When you're salaried, you get the exact same paycheck. Lesser $/hr though for sure.

That's the thing, though; my employer calculates my paycheck using my hourly rate and the number of "hours" I've worked (8 per day, regardless of how long I actually worked that day), and the hourly rate will be slightly smaller when it's calculated assuming a 366-day calendar year.

You get paid bi-weekly I suppose? I get paid semi-monthly, so no changes for me.

[1995hoo]

It should be moved to June 30th so it feels like an extra day of summer instead of an extra day in winter

But we already have a June 30th.

June 31st.

Ideally, one day in a normal year and two days in a leap year would be made what are sometimes called "blank days," days not assigned a regular weekday name. The benefit of doing that is that the calendar doesn't change from year to year in terms of the day of the week on which a given date falls. The Shire Calendar that appears in the appendix to The Return of the King is an example of that sort of calendar–the hobbits moved Midyear's Day (and, in leap years, the Overlithe) to a day not assigned to a regular weekday.

Of course, as a practical matter that is highly unlikely to gain any traction for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which are very strenuous objections from several major religions that feel very strongly about the seven-day week; I'm sure there would also be issues regarding accounting calendars or computation of vacation time accruals or similar. The French Republican Calendar in the late 1700s abolished the seven-day week for a ten-day "décade" in which the tenth day was the day of rest. Not surprisingly, the idea of having one day off every ten days instead of one day off every seven days was not especially popular (although I suppose back then if you protested too vocally they'd simply send you to the guillotine).

[CtrlAltDel]

I don't know about these proposed traditions, but I would be for having Leap day be a national holiday. It really kind of bothers me that it's just another day. I might only be saying this since I celebrated quite strenuously February 29, 2000, which as a centennial leap year, only happens every 400 years, and I've tried to keep that up, with little success admittedly, since.

[CtrlAltDel]

It should be moved to June 30th so it feels like an extra day of summer instead of an extra day in winter

But we already have a June 30th.

There would be two June 30ths. 

[kphoger]

It really kind of bothers me that it's just another day.

I've occasionally wondered how people in some ancient cultures handled having blocks of intercalary days–days which were simply inserted between months.  But it occurs to me now:  why would they have even cared?  It's not like their everyday lives would have been affected by any particular day being attached to a month or not.

Similarly, it doesn't bother me that that February 29 is "just another day".  It doesn't affect my everyday life in the slightest.

[CtrlAltDel]

It really kind of bothers me that it's just another day.

I've occasionally wondered how people in some ancient cultures handled having blocks of intercalary days–days which were simply inserted between months. But it occurs to me now: why would they have even cared? It's not like their everyday lives would have been affected by any particular day being attached to a month or not.

Similarly, it doesn't bother me that that February 29 is "just another day". It doesn't affect my everyday life in the slightest.

Well, every day is an everyday day unless it is decided that it's not.

As far as intercalary stuff goes, though, it matters quite a bit to people in power, since, especially if there is no set system for deciding when they will take place, they can lengthen or shorten their time in office, or that of their rivals, and so on. Additionally, sometimes intercalary stuff is considered lucky or unlucky, and so that can be a factor as well, such as in wartime.

That said, all of this that I'm saying comes from Rome, which didn't set its intercalary period, a month called Mercedonius, at the end of a month, but rather in the middle of February, and so technically doesn't relate to your question.

In any case, a fun fact is that, when Julius Caesar reformed the calendar, this month was replaced with one day, which he put in the same spot as that month, which led to a doubled day 6 days before the Kalends of March, which is why in French a leap year is called an année bissextile. It's only been slowly over the centuries that the leap day has migrated to the last day of February.