It❜s Leap Day - You Can Propose But You Won❜t Get Paid

By: Lisa Wolff, ellaslist

Monday mornings are hard! Getting the kids up and ready for school after a busy weekend never gets any easier. But this particular Monday is even crueller. Because if you’re on an annual salary, you’ll be working for FREE!

Today is ‘leap day’ – 29 February – that only comes round every 4 years. Our salaries are usually based on 365 days, but since this year has one day extra, you won’t be getting paid for it. Right, good excuse to go back to bed (wishful thinking!).

Here are a few more fun facts that we bet you didn’t know about the Leap Year.

1) Women Should Pop the Question on a Leap Year

This tradition goes way back to 5th century Ireland when St. Brigid of Kildare moaned to St. Patrick that women had to wait too long for men to propose. Legend has it that St. Patrick decreed that women could propose on this one day in February during the leap year. Doesn’t give us ladies much opportunity.

The Scots have taken it one step further with setting a law that the man would have to pay a fine if they turn down a Leap Year proposal. In Denmark the penalty of refusal is 12 pairs of gloves and in Finland, it’s material for a skirt.

2) It’s your birthday…every 4 years

If you are born on 29 February, you only have a birthday every four years. So leap-year babies celebrating their 40th year milestone, would really be toasting to their 10th birthday.

On non-leap years, most ‘leaplings’ choose to mark their birthday on the day before or day after but just it’s not the same as celebrating on the actual date.

One positive side-effect of being born on a leap-day, is that people remember your birthday so watch the greetings flood in with 29 Feb rolls around.

Bonus, Leapers get their very own secret club – over 10,000 people worldwide have joined the Honor Society of Leap Year Babies. They’ll certainly be some big parties today.

3) Where’s the Biggest Leap Year Party

If you’re a leap year baby, there is only one place to be on 29 Feb – Anthony, Texas, USA, known as the “Leap Capital of the World”. Every leap year, this tiny town hosts the Worldwide Leap Year Festival. People travel to this town from all over the world to take part in parades, birthday dinners, and hot air balloon rides.

4) Leap Years are NOT every 4 years

To add to the confusion, Leap years do not happen every 4 years. There are actually 3 years every 400 years when the Leap Year is skipped. It’s all about balancing out the calendar. We’ll just leave it up to the calendar to tell us when it’s not happening.

If you’re celebrating your birthday today, we hope it’s a fabulous one!