Every 4 years, February
gets additional day to make it 29 days in order to keep calendar seasons
synchronised with solar seasons. This added day is bissextus or leap day and
the year of the leap day is leap year.
Astronomers believe it takes the earth 365.24 days to orbit around the sun. But the Georgian
calendar equals a year to 365 days. And so, the fraction of .24 is added up
(0.24 x 4 = 0.96) to form approximately another day on the 4th year.
But this approximation
has made the calendar to run faster with some few seconds (0.04) than the
earth. And to correct this anomaly, another rule about centuries was added.
Normally, every year that
is evenly divided by 4 is a leap year. But a year that is divisible by 4 and
100 but not by 400 is not a leap year. In other words, every century even if it
is divided by 4 may not be a leap year.
For example, the
centuries of 1700, 1800 and 1900 were evenly divided by 4 but were not leap
years because they were divided by 4 and by 100 but not by 400. However, the centuries of
1600 and 2000 were leap years because they were divisible by 4 and by 100 and
by 400.
This century rule was
introduced to correct the few seconds (0.04) that was neglected when a complete
day is added to February in every 4 years.
Well, sometimes these
things don’t make sense but “don't criticize what you can't understand”
according to Bob Dylan. Otherwise, why would
anyone believe that 7 days = 1 week; 4 weeks = 1 month; 52 weeks = 1 year; 365/366
days = 1 year according to Georgian calendar?
In fact, if 52 weeks = 1
year, then 1 year ought to be 52 weeks/4 weeks = 13 months and not 12 months as stated
by the calendar. Besides, if 7 days = 1 week then 1 year ought to be 7 days x 52 weeks
= 364 days.
For those who may choose
to point out that the days of the months are not equal should be reminded that
the Romans allocated the days to the months as they wished.
For instance, February had
30 days under Julius Caesar. But during the reign of Emperor Caesar Augustus,
July which was named after Julius had 31 days but August which was named after
him had 29 days.
So in order to satisfy
his ego, Augustus took 2 days from February and added to August to have the
same number of days as Julius Caesar. From then February was demoted to 28
days.
The above also suggests that
there may have been 28 days in every month of which if it was retained like so,
there would have been 13 months instead of 12 months in a year.
As we know, number
13 represents bad luck to Europeans; perhaps that was why the Romans juggle the
numbers to arrive at 12 calendar months.
Nevertheless, the Book of
Jubilees, known as lesser Genesis, which claims to describe the events of the
division of the Law of Moses mentioned 364 days as a complete year.
According to Jubilees Ch.
6:32 - “And command thou the children of Israel that they observe the years
according to this reckoning - three hundred and sixty-four days, and (these)
will constitute a complete year, and they will not disturb its time from its
days and from its feasts; …”
If the contents of the
book of Jubilees are correct it then means that the acceptance of 364 days, 52
weeks and 13 months = 1 year preceded the Roman Empire . Unfortunately, Jubilees was
one the books designated apocryphal by the Roman Catholic Church.
As for IGBO people of
South East Nigeria, their calendar is made up of 8 market days namely – ORIE-UKWU;
AFO-UKWU; NKWO-UKWU; EKE-UKWU; ORIE-NTA; AFO-NTA, NKWO-NTA and EKE-NTA. How these
days add up to a year is a topic for another year.
By the way, leap year is
the only period when European females can propose to their fiancés. And I am
waiting for the time when our ‘westernised’ African women will start emulating
their European counterparts.
Until then, see you in
the next 4 years.