The new year 2020 will be a leap year, which means that we will live 1 day more in it - in February, instead of the usual 28 days, there will be 29. The additional 366 day in a leap year on February 29 is due to the fact that the Earth completes its revolution around the Sun in 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds. To compensate for this difference of almost 6 hours, one day is added to the calendar every 4 years.
Everyone has a different attitude towards the leap year - some consider this period to be the most ordinary year, which does not carry any danger, others are afraid of it and associate many superstitions with this period. In this article we will try to understand all the signs, beliefs and misconceptions associated with the leap year.
Upcoming Leap Years: 2020, 2024, 2028, 2032, 2036, 2040, 2044.
An additional day in a leap year, February 29, is called Kasyanov's day. In Nada, this day is considered one of the most difficult and dangerous. A bad attitude towards a leap year was associated in popular beliefs with a certain Kasyan, about whom there were many legends and beliefs. According to one legend, Kasyan was an Angel who knew all the affairs and plans of God. However, it later turned out that he was a traitor who told all the plans to the demons. For this he was punished - he was beaten on the forehead for 3 years, and for 4 years he was released to Earth, where he already committed evil deeds. According to another legend, Kasyan was a saint, but he broke the law and drank alcohol for 3 years, and stopped for 4 years.
Signs for Leap Year 2020
During the Leap Year, you cannot start anything serious - building a house, major contracts or transactions, purchases, weddings and much more. All this was prohibited. Because nothing good will come of such undertakings - everything will soon fall apart and bring with it many more problems. Also, if possible, you should not change your job or apartment.
In a leap year, it is better not to start building a bathhouse.
A child born in a leap year needs to take blood relatives as godfathers.
If you live in a village and raise geese, then when you slaughter a bird in a leap year, give the third goose for free to relatives or neighbors.
In the spring of a leap year, when you plant seeds and seedlings in the garden for the first time, say: “In a leap year, soot will die.”
If you still decide to get married on a leap year, then before the ceremony say this talisman: “I am crowning with a crown, not a leap end.”
People who get divorced during a leap year should buy a new towel. These towels are then taken to the church and given to the cleaning ladies, saying to themselves: “I pay tribute to the Leap Day, and you, Family Angel, stand next to me. Amen. Amen. Amen.
In a leap year, when leaving home, they say, without crossing the threshold: “I’m going and driving along the leap trail, I’ll bow to the leap year. I left the threshold, and I’ll come back here. Amen.”
At the first thunder in a leap year, they cross their fingers and whisper: “The whole family is with me (names of your family members). Amen.”
When they hear a dog howling on a leap year, they say: “Go howl, but not to my home. Amen.”
A leap year occurs once every four years. But why then was 1904 a leap year, 1900 was not, and 2000 was again?
The Summer Olympics are held in a leap year - where did this order come from? And why do we need any special “extended” years at all? How are they different from ordinary ones? Let's figure it out.
Who introduced leap years into the calendar?
Ancient Roman astronomers were well aware that a year on Earth lasts 365 days and a few more hours. Because of this, the calendar year, which then consisted of a constant number of days, did not coincide with the astronomical one. The excess hours gradually accumulated, turning into days. Calendar dates gradually shifted and deviated from natural phenomena such as the equinoxes. A group of astronomers led by Sosigenes, working at the court of Julius Caesar, proposed adjusting the calendar. According to the new chronology, every fourth year was extended by one day. This year began to be called bis sextus, which in Latin means "second sixth" . In Russian this word was transformed into "leap" - that’s what we call it to this day.
By order of Julius Caesar, a new calendar was introduced starting in 45 BC. After the death of the emperor, there was a glitch in the calculation of leap years, and the countdown began again from the 8th year of our era. That's why even years are leap years today.
It was decided to add a day to the last, shortest month of the year, which already “didn’t have enough days.” In Ancient Rome, the New Year was celebrated on March 1, so the extra 366th day was added to February. The new calendar began to be called “Julian” in honor of Caesar. By the way, the Orthodox and some other churches still live according to the Julian calendar - this is a tribute to tradition.
And again the calendar changes
Astronomical observations continued, methods became more and more accurate. Over time, astrologers realized that the duration of the earth's year is not 365 days and 6 hours, but slightly less. (We now know that a year lasts 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds.) 
The use of the Julian calendar led to the fact that the calendar began to lag behind the real flow of time. Astronomers have noticed that the spring equinox occurs much earlier than the day allotted to it according to the calendar, that is, March 21. There was a need to adjust the calendar, which was done by decree of Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.
To compensate for the discrepancy, they decided to set leap years according to a new rule. It was necessary to reduce their number, which was done. From that moment on, all years that are divisible by four are still considered leap years, except those that are divisible by 100. For even more accurate calculation, years that are divisible by 400 are still considered leap years.
That is why 1900 (like 1700 and 1800) was not a leap year, but 2000 (like 1600) was.
The new calendar was named Gregorian in honor of the Pope - all countries of the world currently live according to it. The Julian calendar is used by a number of Christian churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church.
Rule for determining leap years
So, leap years are determined using a simple algorithm:
If a year is divisible by 4 but not divisible by 100, it is a leap year;
If a year is divisible by 100, it is not considered a leap year;
If a year is divisible by 100 and also divisible by 400, it is a leap year.
How is a leap year different from others?
Only one - it has 366 days, with an additional day assigned to February. Despite the fact that the year now begins on January 1, which means the last month of the year is December, we still give an extra day to February. He's the shortest - we'll feel sorry for him!
And let's rejoice for those who were born on February 29 in a leap year. These “lucky ones” celebrate their birthday once every four years, which makes this event more long-awaited and desirable than for other people.
What happens during a leap year?
Leap years were chosen to host the main sporting event of humanity - the Olympics. Now, in leap years, only the summer Games are held, and the winter Games are held with a shift of two years. The sports community adheres to the most ancient tradition, which was established by the first Olympians - the ancient Greeks. 
It was they who decided that such a grandiose event should not happen too often - once every four years. The four-year cycle coincided with the alternation of leap years, so the modern Olympics began to be held in leap years.
Every 4 years, humanity lives in a leap year. It is this year, in February, that magically becomes 29 days.
There are many signs and beliefs associated with it, many of which have pagan roots, but there are also Christian elements. Sometimes, it comes to the point that during a leap year people give up such usual activities as a seaside holiday or regular trips to the country.
What is a leap year and how valid are the signs associated with it?
Leap year: where did the extra day come from?
Do you think that the Earth makes a full revolution in exactly 365 days? No, this is not so - the Earth makes a full circle around the Sun a little longer, namely, 365 days and 6 hours.
In other words, every year an extra quarter of a day is added. Over the course of 4 years, such quarters equal 24 hours. So it turns out that a year that is divisible by 4 (2008, 2012, 2016, the leap year calendar is based on this principle) is different from the rest.
The leap year is designed to eliminate this surplus and bring balance to the calendar. If it were not for the leap year, then in a couple of centuries the new year would have moved to the beginning of March, and this is quite serious!
Leap year differences
The differences between a leap year and other years, from a material point of view, are limited only by the number of days. In addition, people have to work one more day. Sometimes, however, it turns out to rest once again, but this happens quite rarely.
From an astrological point of view, during the Earth's path around the Sun during a leap year, a large number of troubles occur:
- people's everyday problems;
- man-made disasters;
- natural disasters;
- relatively high mortality rate.
However, one can argue with the latter - there are no comments from funeral service workers about the increase in mortality. Only slightly more elderly people die.
Leap year: greetings from Antiquity
For the first time, the ancient Romans were concerned with the problem of the calendar not corresponding to the real flow of time. In this country, it was forbidden to transfer significant dates to another time of the year. People were guided by the movement of the Sun across the sky.
Guy Julius Caesar solved the problem quickly and radically - from the moment of his reign, people began to live according to the Julian calendar, which added one day to February every 4 years. The transition to the new calendar began gradually, not everyone accepted it, but time took its toll.
Over time, the pagan calendar migrated to Christian culture. But in some regions this year is associated with Kasyan Visokos, one of the saints, the patron saint of monasticism.
Allegedly, he binge-drinks for three years, and after 4 years he comes out of the drinking binge and takes it out on people for the fact that his day is celebrated only once every 4 years.
Here, however, there is a problem - a Christian saint, by definition, cannot be a binge drunkard, plus there is no record in the church that Visokos likes to drink.
Signs and beliefs associated with leap year
Nowadays, leap year is treated relatively simply, but in the past, some people were afraid to leave the house on February 29th during a leap year. For example, there was a superstition that if you were very cold on this day, and at the end of February the frosts could be severe, then a person would certainly catch a severe cold and die.
The same applies to livestock. Popular belief says that any mistake in caring for pets on this day can cost the animals their lives. For example, malnutrition or overfeeding.
Starting a new business in a leap year, according to popular belief, cannot bring much success.
Everything is bound to go awry: even if a person builds a house, or even opens a business. In addition, all major matters should be postponed at least until February 29 - this time is considered the most unfortunate since the beginning of the year.
To appease Visokos a little, you need to do the following:
- when the chimes strike, throw a glass of vodka out of the window (other alcohol will do, but it must be strong);
- drink without clinking glasses when it is exactly midnight;
- If you still clink glasses, then before you take a sip, you need to put the glasses on the table.
According to popular belief, Visokos's anger will subside a little before the completion of the next track around the Sun.
Another interesting sign is associated with collecting gifts from nature. Usually, picking mushrooms and berries is difficult on February 29, but things found on the street, for example, money, can bring trouble if they get into the house.
And if at the same time the dog howls (Dog Day on February 29 is itself a bad sign), then disaster is guaranteed. You need to ignore him, saying, “Forget me.”
Leap year prohibitions
Since this year is so unlucky, people have come up with many prohibitions, by observing which you can ward off trouble from your home. By the way, nature also “participates” in these prohibitions.
For example, according to the recollections of old-timers, in leap years there is usually a weak harvest of apples.
So, what not to do in a leap year:
- You can't sing carols at baptism. This ritual itself is relatively associated with evil spirits, and once every four years they are especially “attentive” to people. It's better not to attract any rubbish. So no matter how many sweets people offer, it is better to avoid carols.
- It is not recommended to sell products produced on your own farm. It is believed that happiness and wealth leave the house with them.
- You shouldn’t show your baby’s first erupted tooth to anyone, except perhaps your closest relatives. If you break the ban, the child will have crooked teeth.
- You cannot start new big things, including getting married. Everything will go wrong, this has already been discussed above.
- You can’t buy “coffin things.” It sounds strange, but for some older people it is the norm to buy things for their funeral. Such an action during a leap year will hasten death.
- Women are strictly prohibited from dyeing their hair. This can lead to the lady going bald.
- Changing your place of work or place of residence is prohibited. A person simply will not get accustomed to a new place; he will have to start everything from scratch (this point is sometimes impossible, because there are different circumstances in life).
Having children joins this forbidden group, but not everyone takes this restriction seriously.
Maybe this all sounds archaic, but the fact remains that people often complain to astrologers and psychics about misfortunes that began precisely after violating such prohibitions.
Conclusion - until the Earth makes a full revolution around the Sun in a leap year, some activities should be abandoned.
What do astrologers think?
In 2016, I made an anonymous personal calendar for a young man. He was going to start a new business project, but numerology showed that the undertaking would not only be extremely unsuccessful, but could even lead to the death of my client.
Unfortunately, he didn’t listen to me, he did the opposite. The result is deplorable - although he remained alive, he lost everything to the last penny, and is now starting a new life.
Surprisingly, most of these calendars for different people, made during leap years, showed similar results. I don’t really believe in the involvement of negative entities in the problems, but the influence of the planets in these years is extremely negative.
The leap year should pass calmly and without unnecessary movements, I can tell you that for sure!
Irina, Moscow
All the predictions I made for people wanting to get married on a leap year didn't say anything good. This time is a time of failures, misunderstandings, conflicts and contradictions, what kind of marriage can we talk about?
At the same time, many of these “weds” separated even before the wedding. Since 2016, only 5-10% of those families have survived.
Mortality, by the way, is also increasing! Older people die in droves during leap years. Pray more often, do not anger the higher powers! And go to church, every 7 days or so.
Svyatoslav, Yaroslavl
I believe that leap year is a pagan Slavic belief. The ancestors endowed February with demonic power and feared it like fire.
So this belief has come to us in a greatly modified form. There's nothing wrong with a leap year, but a little care still wouldn't hurt.
Irma, Moscow
High mortality, that's what a leap year is. It is rare to make favorable forecasts at this time.
Basically, people have some problems to solve. I advise you not to violate the leap year prohibitions and undergo purification rituals more often.
Svetlana, Samara
First a note. Not every 4th year is a leap year. We'll explain why later.
A normal year has 365 days. A leap year has 366 days - a day more, due to the addition of an additional day under the number 29 to the month of February, as a result of which those born on this day experience certain difficulties in celebrating their birthday.
A year is the time it takes for planet Earth to complete one revolution around the Sun in relation to the stars (apparently measured as the interval between two successive passages of the Sun through the vernal equinox).
A day (or often in everyday speech - a day) is the time during which the Earth makes one revolution around its axis. As you know, there are 24 hours in a day.
It turns out that a year does not fit exactly the number of days. There are 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45.252 seconds in a year. If a year is taken to be equal to 365 days, then it turns out that the Earth in its orbital movement will not “reach” the point at which the “circle closes”, i.e. to get to it you need to fly in orbit for another 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45.252 seconds. These extra approximately 6 hours over 4 years will just be collected into one additional day, which was introduced into the calendar to eliminate the backlog, receiving every 4th year leap year- a day longer. He did this on January 1, 45 BC. e. Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar, and the calendar has since become known as Julian. In fairness, it must be said that Julius Caesar introduced a new calendar only by authority, and, of course, astronomers calculated and proposed it.
The Russian word "leap year" comes from the Latin expression "bis sextus" - "second sixth". The ancient Romans counted the days of the month remaining until the beginning of the next month. So February 24th was the sixth day until the beginning of March. In a leap year, an additional, second (bis sextus) sixth day was inserted between February 24 and February 25. Later this day began to be added to the end of the month, February 29.
So, according to the Julian calendar, every 4th year is a leap year.
But it is easy to notice that 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45.252 seconds are not exactly 6 hours (11 minutes 14 seconds are missing). Of these 11 minutes and 14 seconds, over 128 years, another extra day will “run up.” This was noticed from astronomical observations by the shift of the vernal equinox, relative to which church holidays, in particular Easter, are calculated. By the 16th century the lag was 10 days (today it is 13 days). To eliminate it, Pope Gregory XIII carried out a calendar reform ( Gregorian calendar), according to which not every 4th year was a leap year. Years divisible by one hundred, i.e. ending with two zeros, were not leap years. The only exceptions were years divisible by 400.
So, leap years are years: 1) divisible by 4, but not by 100 (for example, 2016, 2020, 2024),
Note that the Russian Orthodox Church refused to switch to the Gregorian calendar and lives according to the old Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian. If the church continues to refuse to switch to the generally accepted Gregorian calendar, then in a few hundred years the shift will become such that, for example, Christmas will be celebrated in the summer.
sharky:
03/25/2013 at 16:04
Why on earth is 1900 not a leap year? A leap year occurs every 4 years, i.e. If it is divisible by 4, it is a leap year. And no more divisions by 100 or 400 are needed.
It’s normal to ask questions, but before you assert anything, study the hardware. The Earth revolves around the sun in 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds. As you can see, the remainder is not exactly 6 hours, but 11 minutes 14 seconds less. This means that by making a leap year we add extra time. Somewhere over 128 years, extra days accumulate. Therefore, every 128 years in one of the 4-year cycles there is no need to make a leap year in order to get rid of these extra days. But to simplify things, every 100th year is not a leap year. Is the idea clear? Fine. What then should we do next, since an extra day is added every 128 years, and we cut it off every 100 years? Yes, we cut off more than we should, and this needs to be returned at some point.
If the first paragraph is clear and still interesting, then read on, but it will be more difficult.
So, in 100 years, 100/128 = 25/32 days of excess time accumulates (that’s 18 hours 45 minutes). We do not make a leap year, that is, we subtract one day: we get 25/32-32/32 = -7/32 days (that’s 5 hours 15 minutes), that is, we subtract the excess. After four cycles of 100 years (after 400 years), we will subtract an extra 4 * (-7/32) = -28/32 days (this is minus 21 hours). For the 400th year we make a leap year, that is, we add a day (24 hours): -28/32+32/32=4/32=1/8 (that’s 3 hours).
We make every 4th year a leap year, but at the same time every 100th year is not a leap year, and at the same time every 400th year is a leap year, but still every 400 years an extra 3 hours are added. After 8 cycles of 400 years, that is, after 3200 years, an extra 24 hours will accumulate, that is, one day. Then another mandatory condition is added: every 3200th year should not be a leap year. 3200 years can be rounded up to 4000, but then you will again have to play with added or trimmed days.
3200 years have not passed, so this condition, if it is made this way, is not yet talked about. But 400 years have already passed since the approval of the Gregorian calendar.
Years that are multiples of 400 are always leap years (for now), other years that are multiples of 100 are not leap years, and other years that are multiples of 4 are leap years.
The calculation I gave shows that in the current state, an error in one day will accumulate over 3200 years, but here’s what Wikipedia writes about it:
“An error of one day compared to the year of the equinoxes in the Gregorian calendar will accumulate in approximately 10,000 years (in the Julian calendar - approximately in 128 years). A frequently encountered estimate, leading to a value of the order of 3000 years, is obtained if one does not take into account that the number of days in the tropical year changes over time and, in addition, the relationship between the lengths of the seasons changes.” From the same Wikipedia, the formula for the length of a year in days with fractions paints a good picture:
365,2425=365+0,25-0,01+0,0025=265+1/4-1/100+1/400
The year 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was, and special, because such a leap year happens once every 400 years.
