Leap Year

Julius Caesar came up with the idea of leap year over 2,000 years ago. The Julian calendar required that each year divisible by 4 would become a leap year. The Romans were on the right track, but that simple formula soon created too many leap years. A math teacher could explain it, and the Gregorian calendar finally made the complicated adjustment 1500 years later with this leap year criteria:

1. The year is evenly divisible by 4.
2. If the year can be evenly divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless:
3. The year is also evenly divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year.

In the old days, leap year was more than a calendar correction-- it was a holiday. February 29th was that special day every four years when the girl could grab herself a husband.

I love vintage postcards, and there are lots of funny ones for leap year. Some show modern young women being assertive, but others show the old maids doing whatever they can to snag, rope or wrestle down a husband. Ha ha. It's too bad people don't have the time and leisure to send goofy postcards on odd-ball holidays anymore. Well, I guess some of us still do, so we post them on our blogs.