Leap years from 1950 to. Why was the year called a leap year and why is an extra day needed every four years?

How many days are there in a leap year?

Once every four years we observe an interesting calendar phenomenon. It is customary for us to count 365 days every year, but once every four years we count 366 days. This has happened historically, since 45 BC, when a Roman dictator named Gaius Julius Caesar created the calendar. Later, such a calendar began to be called the Julian.

The history of the leap year.

The new calendar of Gaius Julius Caesar began on January 1, 45 BC. Astronomers of that time calculated the exact number of days during which the Earth completely goes through a cycle called a year. Exact quantity days amounted to 365.25. In other words, there were 365 full days and 6 hours in a year. Since it was inconvenient to count less than a full day, we decided to introduce a special one to even out the balance.

Three years in a row are counted as 365 days, and in each subsequent fourth year 24 hours are added (6 hours in 4 years) in February. Thus, a new day of February appeared, only one, appearing every four years. This month was not chosen by chance. It was considered the last Roman month of the year. The year 45 BC became the first leap year.

The current year 2016 is a leap year. The next one will be in 2020, then in 2024, etc.

Signs of a leap year.

Since ancient times, a year in which there are one day more than in other years was considered significant and even difficult. Some events were associated with it; it was believed that if in this particular year winter is a day longer, it means that this year affects the human body in a special way.

Leap year signs which many people are scared of, is actually not that scary. The human body is not designed for changes in the calendar and numbers. Rather, a person risks being influenced by the location of the planets, the moon and other external factors affecting the person as a whole.

Among the signs that many people have during this long year, the main ones are prohibitions on various buildings.

Leap year: what not to do?

Many of us are interested in what cannot be done on a leap year. Among these activities are:

• caroling,
• make real estate transactions,
• divorce.

It is not recommended to travel far, and if this happens, it is advised to say certain prayers. All this, of course, has nothing to do with religion, so if the soul asks for prayer, it is better to pray without any signs.

Leap year is not a big deal.

A year like this can bring a person many wonderful moments. In leap years, such great figures of art and culture were born as: M. Glinka, I. Strauss, L. Tolstoy, I. Goncharov, as well as modern actors: K. Diaz, K. Khabensky, T. Hanks.

A leap year gives rise to many superstitions and rumors, which mainly boil down to the fact that this year is unlucky and rich in negative events. Let's see if this is true.

Leap year: a little history

The word "leap year" Latin origin, translated as “second sixth”. According to the Julian calendar, the year lasted 365.25 days, with each day shifting by 6 hours. Such an error could confuse the ancient men; to prevent this from happening, it was decided that every fourth year would consist of 366 days, and February would become one day longer. They called this year a leap year.

In Rus', there were many legends about the appearance of leap years, each of which was considered unlucky.

Legends about the appearance of a leap year in Rus'

February 29 is also called Kasyan's Day in honor of St. Kasyan. Being a bright angel, he was seduced by tricks evil spirits and went over to the side of the devil. However, he later repented and prayed to the Lord for mercy. Having mercy on the traitor, God assigned an angel to him. He chained Kasyan and, by order from above, beat him in the forehead with an iron hammer for 3 years, and released him on the fourth.

According to another legend, Kasyanov's day is his name day. However, each time the saint got dead drunk for three years and came to his senses only in the fourth year. That is why he is supposed to celebrate his day so rarely.

There is a third legend: walking along the road, St. Kasyan and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker met a peasant. He asked for help because his cart was stuck in the mud. To which Kasyan replied that he was afraid to stain his robe, and Nikolai helped. The saints came to heaven, God noticed that Nicholas' robe was dirty and asked what was the matter. The Wonderworker told him what happened. Then God noticed that Kasyan’s robe was clean and asked if they weren’t walking together? Kasyan replied that he was afraid of getting his clothes dirty. God realized that the saint was being disingenuous and made it so that his name day comes once every 4 years. And Nikolai’s name day for his kindness is twice a year.

Leap years were notorious in Rus': we will not continue the list of legends for long, here is one example: honest people I tried to complete all my work before February 29th. Many did not dare to leave the house, the sun on this day was called “The Eye of Kasyan”, they were afraid to get under the sun, so that Kasyan would not jinx them and send them illness and suffering.

Superstitions about leap year

As in ancient times, in modern world signs and superstitions are often found, not with the best side characterizing leap years (the list is given below):

• You need to hold off on getting married during a leap year. Such a marriage will not be durable, the young people will quarrel, and the newly created family will bring upon itself troubles and misfortunes.
• You need to put off selling, buying, exchanging real estate or building a house. Deals concluded this year will not be profitable and will inevitably lead to the ruin of the parties. But the new housing will not last long.
• Any undertaking is dangerous - changing jobs, moving, starting a business. The sign is understandable: the presence of the 29th day in one of the winter months can characterize the entire year as not being what it should be. Therefore, unsure of own strength It’s easier for a person to give up something new than to make an effort to start and develop a business.
• You cannot get pregnant and give birth, as the birth will be difficult and the baby may be born unhealthy. Or his life will be hard and joyless.
• A leap year “mows down” people, that is, it takes them away. It is generally accepted that mortality increases every fourth year, although this superstition is not statistically confirmed.
• You cannot pick mushrooms, eat them or sell them to people, so as not to raise something bad from the ground.
• It is believed that leap years entail natural disasters and disasters: fires, floods, drought.

What years are leap years? List of leap years in the 20th century

In the last century, as well as in the 21st century, leap years have made superstitious people afraid. A list of them is given below:

• 1900s: -00; -04; -08; -12, and so on, every fourth year.
• The year two thousand was also a leap year.

Leap years: 21st century list

To this day, many people wait with fear for a leap year, psychologically setting themselves up for trouble and explaining misfortunes by the presence an extra day in February.

Leap years, list since 2000: -04; -08; -12; -16, and then every fourth year.

Instead of a conclusion

According to statistics, only small quantity All troubles and disasters occur in leap years. The superstitions that exist to this day can be explained by the fact that people, closely following the troubles and misfortunes that happened during leap years, attached exaggerated importance to what was happening solely because of the unflattering glory of the latter.

People who believe too much in leap year superstitions would like to wish them to pay more attention to positive changes and events. And then, perhaps, a list of good omens will appear that will rehabilitate leap years.

In the Julian and Gregorian calendars, a leap year is a year that consists of 366 days. Thus, it differs from the usual one by the presence of an “extra” day. IN Julian calendar Every fourth year is a leap year. As for the Gregorian, its approach to determining a leap year is similar, but with a few exceptions.

What are leap years in the Gregorian calendar?

To be considered a leap year, the year number must first be divisible by four. Regarding zero years, from which centuries begin, they are considered leap years only if their number is a multiple of 400. So, for example, the year 2000 is a leap year, while the year 1900 is not.

Regarding the question of how many days are there in a leap year, the most widely used calendar in the world, the Gregorian calendar, contains 366 days. The “extra” day is February 29th. Thus, people born on this day officially celebrate their birthday once every four years. This interesting feature leap years.

Where does the extra day come from?

Our planet revolves around its own all the time heavenly body- The sun. The Earth completes a full revolution in 365 days and several hours. This period of time is called a “year”. For ease of calculation, the “extra” few hours are not taken into account for three years. In the fourth year, the additional hours are added up and, as a result, you get an “extra” day, which is usually added to every fourth February.

Leap years: list for the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries

Taking into account the above-mentioned rules for determining leap years, it is possible to form a list of them over the past centuries. So, in the 19th century these were: 1804, 1808, 1812, 1816, 1820, 1824, 1828, 1832, 1836, 1840, 1844, 1848, 1852, 1856, 1860, 1864, 1868, 1872, , 1880, 1884, 1888, 1892, 1896.

In the 20th century, leap years, respectively, were 1904, 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, , 1976, 1980, 1984 , 1988, 1992, 1996.

As for the 21st century, in which we are all lucky enough to live, the leap years were 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012. The next leap year will be 2016.

The mysticism of leap year

Despite the fact that the origin and characteristics of leap years have long been studied and are absolutely clear, many people are wary of their arrival. It just so happens that a leap year is considered something strange and in some places even dangerous. However, if we analyze history, in normal years no less happened various kinds disasters and negative events than on leap days. Therefore, you should not attach any special significance to leap years.

Did you know that not every 4th year is a leap year? Why is a leap year considered unlucky, and what signs are associated with it?

What does leap year mean?

What are leap years in the 20th and 21st centuries?

February 29 is leap day

Leap year wedding

Born on February 29

11. Karin Henriksen from Norway holds the world record for giving birth to the largest number of children on a leap day.
Her daughter Heidi was born on February 29, 1960, son Olav on February 29, 1964, and son Lief-Martin on February 29, 1968.
12. In the traditional Chinese, Jewish and ancient Indian calendars, not a leap day is added to the year, but a whole month. It is called the "intercalary month". It is believed that children born in a leap month are more difficult to raise. In addition, it is considered unlucky to start serious business during a leap year.

Leap year: signs and superstitions

Is it possible to get married on a leap year?

What should you not do during a leap year?

All life on Earth is determined by proximity to the Sun and the movement of the planet around and around it own axis. A year is the time during which our planet flies around the Sun, and a day is the time of a complete revolution around its axis. It is, of course, very convenient for people to plan their affairs by week, to count a certain number of days in a month or year.

Nature is not a machine

But it turns out that during a full revolution around the Sun, the Earth does not rotate around its axis the full number of times. That is, there are not a full number of days in a year. Everyone knows that this happens 365 times and this corresponds to In fact, a little more: 365.25, that is, an extra 6 hours are accumulated in a year, and to be completely precise, an extra 5 hours, 48 ​​minutes and 14 seconds.

Naturally, if this time is not taken into account, then the hours will add up to a day, then to months, and after a few hundred years the difference between the generally accepted and astronomical calendar will be in a few months. For social life This is completely unacceptable: all holidays and memorable dates will be moved.

Similar difficulties were discovered quite a long time ago, even under one of the greatest of them - Gaius Julius Caesar.

Order of Caesar

Emperors in Ancient Rome were revered on a par with the gods, had unlimited power, so they simply remade the calendar with one order, and that’s all.

In Ancient Rome, the whole year was built on the basis of the celebration of Kalends, Nons and Ides (these were the names of the parts of the month). In this case, February was considered the last. Thus, in a leap year there were 366 days, and the additional days were in last month.

After all, it was quite logical to add a day in the last month of the year, in February. Moreover, interestingly, it was not the last day that was added, as it is now, but an additional day before the calendars of the month of March. Thus, February became two twenty-fourths. Leap years were appointed after three years, and the first of them occurred during the lifetime of Caesar Gaius Julius. After his death, the system went a little wrong because the priests made a mistake in the calculations, but over time the correct calendar of leap years was restored.

Nowadays, leap years are considered a little more complicated. And this is due to those few extra minutes that are obtained when introducing a full extra day every four years.

New calendar

The Gregorian calendar, which lives by secular society V present moment, was introduced by Pope Gregory at the end of the 16th century. Reason why it was introduced new calendar, is that the previous timing was inaccurate. By adding a day every four years, the Roman ruler did not take into account that the official calendar would be ahead of the generally accepted calendar by 11 minutes and 46 seconds every four years.

At the time of the introduction of the new calendar, the inaccuracy of the Julian calendar was 10 days; over time it increased and is now 14 days. The difference increases every century by about a day. It is especially noticeable on summer day and winter solstice. And since some holidays are counted from these dates, we noticed the difference.

The Gregorian leap year calendar is a little more complex than the Julian calendar.

Structure of the Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar takes into account the difference in official and astronomical calendar at 5 hours, 48 ​​minutes and 14 seconds, that is, every 100 years, one leap year is canceled.

So how do you know which year is a leap year and which is not? Is there a system and algorithm for canceling an extra day? Or is it better to use

For convenience, such an algorithm has actually been introduced. In general, every fourth year is considered a leap year; for convenience, years divisible by four are used. Therefore, if you need to find out whether the year of your grandmother’s birth or the beginning of World War II was a leap year, you just need to find out whether this year is divisible by 4 or not. Thus, 1904 is a leap year, 1908 is also a leap year, but 1917 is not.

The leap year is canceled at the change of centuries, that is, in a year that is a multiple of 100. Thus, 1900 was not a leap year because it is a multiple of 100, non-leap years also 1800 and 1700. But an extra day does not accumulate in a century, but in about 123 years, that is, amendments need to be made again. How do you know which year is a leap year? If a year is a multiple of 100 and a multiple of 400, it is considered a leap year. That is, 2000 was a leap year, just like 1600.

The Gregorian calendar with such complex amendments is so accurate that there is extra time left, but we're talking about about seconds. Such seconds are also called leap seconds, so that it is immediately clear what we are talking about. There are two of them per year and they are added on June 30 and December 31 at 23:59:59. These two seconds equalize astronomical and universal time.

What is different about a leap year?

A leap year is one day longer than usual and has 366 days. Previously, back in Roman times, this year there were two days on February 24, but now, of course, the dates are counted differently. This year in February there is one more day than usual, that is 29.

But it is believed that years that have February 29th are unlucky. There is a belief that during leap years the mortality rate increases and various misfortunes occur.

Happy or unhappy?

If you look at the mortality chart in the USSR in the second half of the 20th century and in Russia, you will notice that the most high level noted in 2000. This can be explained by economic crises, low level life and other problems. Yes, the year 2000 was a leap year (since it is divisible by 400), but is that a rule? 1996 is not a record-breaking year for mortality; in the year preceding it, 1995, the mortality rate was higher.

This figure reached its minimum level in almost half a century during non-leap years, but in 1986 the mortality rate was also low, much lower than, for example, in 1981.

There are many more examples that can be given, but it is already clear that mortality does not increase in “long” years.

If you look at fertility statistics, you also cannot find a clear relationship with the length of the year. The leap years of the 20th century did not confirm the theory of misfortune. Fertility rates both in Russia and in European countries falls evenly. A slight rise was observed only in 1987, and then the birth rate began to grow steadily after 2008.

Maybe a leap year determines some tension in politics or predetermines natural disasters or war?

Among the dates of the start of hostilities, you can find only one leap year: 1812 - the war with Napoleon. For Russia it ended quite happily, but, of course, it was a serious test in itself. But neither the year of the revolution of 1905 nor 1917 were a leap year. The year the Second World War began (1939) was certainly the most miserable year for all of Europe, but it was not a leap year.

In leap years there were also explosions, but such events as Chernobyl disaster, tragedy in Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki, volcanic eruptions and other disasters happened in the most ordinary years. The list of leap years in the 20th century does not at all coincide with the mournful list of misfortunes and disasters.

Causes of misfortune

Psychologists believe that all statements about the death of a leap year are nothing more than superstition. If it is confirmed, they talk about it. And if it is not confirmed, they simply forget about it. But the expectation of misfortune in itself can “attract” misfortune. It is not for nothing that exactly what he fears often happens to a person.

One of the saints said: “If you don’t believe in omens, they will not come true.” IN in this case This could not have come at a better time.

Leap year in Hebrew

The traditional Jewish calendar uses lunar months that last 28 days. As a result, the calendar year according to this system lags behind the astronomical year by 11 days. An additional month of the year is regularly introduced for adjustment. The leap year in the traditional Jewish calendar consists of thirteen months.

Leap years happen more often for Jews: out of nineteen years, only twelve are ordinary, and another seven are leap years. That is, Jews have many more leap years than usual. But, of course, we are talking only about the traditional Jewish calendar, and not about the one by which modern state Israel.

Leap year: when is next year

All our contemporaries will no longer face exceptions in counting leap years. Next year, which will not be a leap year, is expected only in 2100, this is unlikely to be relevant for us. So the next leap year can be calculated very simply: the nearest year that is divisible by 4.

2012 was a leap year, 2016 will be a leap year too, 2020 and 2024, 2028 and 2032 will be leap years. It's quite easy to calculate. Of course, it is necessary to know this, but do not let this information frighten you. And in a leap year, wonderful and joyful events happen. For example, people born on February 29th are considered lucky and lucky.