Leap Day Commemoration

Submitted by crg on February 29th, 2024 at 6:55 AM

Today is Leap Day.  An extra day added to the year which we celebrate as a gift (and not at all as a mistake being corrected in how humanity had been so clearly mis-tracking time for over a thousand years).  And of course this day is given to us at the end of February, so we can savor more time in the lovely weather just before spring begins (which in no way is making up for Julius & Augustus Ceasars greedily stealing days from February to add to their newly created eponymous summer months, such that no other months in the year would be longer than theirs).

Yet today is special... a day that only comes about once every four years and has that unique special character to it.  A quality, if you will - one that prompts people to recall what has transpired in the past, take stock of the present, and hope for the future.

So however you plan to honor your Leap Year today, remember this:

It has now happened twice since the last time Ryan Day beat Michigan.

Enjoy!

Lakeyale13

February 29th, 2024 at 7:06 AM ^

Trying to figure out how to celebrate the day appropriately.  It is an odd day for sure. How does one celebrate the 29th as their birthday when it’s not Leap Year. 

Willstud99

February 29th, 2024 at 11:56 AM ^

For a large portion of my childhood I thought that being born on leap day meant you aged at 1/4 the rate everyone else did, meaning i thought leap day babies were developmentally adolescents until like 80 years old.

I was legitimately mourning a friend having a baby on leap day when my Mom finally corrected that fallacy. Fun times

bhinrichs

February 29th, 2024 at 3:44 PM ^

I wonder if the Montessori approach to education would have helped you here?  On a birthday (if it is during the school year) there is a little celebration where the class sits in a big circle in the center of the room and together the class counts the number of trips around the sun for the child whose birthday it is (while parents bring and pass around a photograph taken during each one of those trips around the sun :^).

I thought it was a pretty cool tradition, educational activity, celebration/recognition.

LSAClassOf2000

February 29th, 2024 at 7:44 AM ^

I honestly haven't considered a Leap Day celebration before. 

I do know someone whose birthday is actually today, but for the other three years in each "cycle", it's a flex holiday, being either February 28th or March 1st depending on the availability of time and celebrants (if celebrating). It's all perfectly messy, quite frankly. 

MGoGrendel

February 29th, 2024 at 8:04 AM ^

It was in the 60’s here for a couple of days leading into March.  Then a cold front came through yesterday afternoon and I woke up to 38 degrees.  Leap Day is reminding me that the February freeze isn’t over yet. 

rob f

February 29th, 2024 at 2:08 PM ^

I believe Sadie Hawkins Day (Nov 13th and well known to residents of Dogpatch and fans of Little Abner) was inspired by the traditional Leap Day events.

The comic strip writer changed the date to mid November so that he'd have a built-in story line every year.

 

Eventually writer Al Capp's comic strip storyline evolved into Li'l Abner's efforts to evade his girlfriend Daisy on that day.

NittanyFan

February 29th, 2024 at 10:08 AM ^

Sort of like the Olympics, it's an interesting day to look back and see how one's life has evolved and changed over the past 4 years.

Between 29-February-1988 and 29-February-1992 my life was the same as regards 3 big items. I was living in Detroit, and had no job and no girlfriend/partner both days.  The latter 2 because I was still just a kid.

But for every other 4 year gap, at least one of those 3 things has changed: where I live, where I'm working or my relationship status.

DrunkOnHiggins

February 29th, 2024 at 10:35 AM ^

JAASSSSSON!!! RAAAAAAAAANDY!!!! I NEEED TAKES HOTTER THAN PATRICK KANE SINCE HE JOINED THE WINGS!

But seriously, I'm going to see the Sklar's at the Comedy Castle in Royal Oak tonight! Should be a good show.

bhinrichs

February 29th, 2024 at 2:01 PM ^

It's Rossini's birthday, who wrote nearly forty operas from 1812 to 1829, including such stirring and famous works as:

     The Useless Precaution, otherwise known as The Barber of Seville,
     (La gazza ladra) The Thieving Magpie,
     
(ossia Ottone, re d'Italia) Otto, King of Italy,
     (ossia Il cambio della valigia
) The Exchanged Suitcase
     (Ugo, re d'Italia
) Hugo, King of Italy,
     and last but certainly not least:
                 Guillaume Tell, otherwise known as (The Lone Ranger Theme Song) William Tell,


But sadly, apparently he did not actually compose Duetto buffo di due gatti (The Cat Duet),
which some in the past had erroneously attributed to him.  😅

 

(thanks to Wiki)