# Leap day is not the 29th of February! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 24, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leap-day-is-not-the-29th-of-february/230924 "2004-02-24T16:48:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leap-day-is-not-the-29th-of-february/230924/21 "2004-02-26T15:08:49Z")
> [@thowan](#): > > One thing is what is rational, and another thing is tradition. I’m not saying that I prefer one over the other, I’m just raising the issue so that we may all get smarter. Well done, **thowan** , you’ve made a lot of progress since the post where you said “I must insist that by tradition, leap day is still the 24th of February and not the 29th”. It’s certainly not the tradition everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![thowan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9c0ed/32.png) [@thowan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thowan)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leap-day-is-not-the-29th-of-february/230924/22 "2004-02-26T22:08:39Z")
Well, **RM Mentock** , it is tradition in Denmark, whatever that’s worth. But thank you for your openmindedness. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leap-day-is-not-the-29th-of-february/230924/23 "2004-02-27T11:13:09Z")
> [@thowan](#): > > Well, **RM Mentock** , it is tradition in Denmark, whatever that’s worth. And in Sweden, although the almanac publishers have for some reason chosen to call the 29th leap day. I don’t. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![blahedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@blahedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blahedo)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leap-day-is-not-the-29th-of-february/230924/24 "2004-02-29T18:44:09Z")
I don’t doubt that the 24th was traditionally the leap day, but apparently even in Scotland people have given over that traditional value in favour of the rational value, even with respect to the women-proposing tradition. This article talks about the leap year tradition, and mentions only the 29th… ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leap-day-is-not-the-29th-of-february/230924/25 "2004-02-29T21:46:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Unfortunately, not so easy. While every day (except possibly leap day, whenever that is) is the feast day of several saints, most of those feast days aren’t actually observed. And there aren’t any major saints in the last few days of February. There are books listing the feasts of all the canonized saints, but they would presumably just list the “normal” date for the feast (I don’t have such a book handy to check, unfortunately, but don’t recall seeing any notations for moving a feast in leap years). Most saints have feast days that are optional celebrations. Very few are always observed. It’s usually just ones like St. Joseph or one of the Apostles. Even St. Patrick’s Day is an “optional” feast. Unless the parishioners feel some sort of connection with a particular saint, the priests won’t bother observing the feast day during the daily Mass. And all that usually consists of is the priest saying a specialized prayer or two during Mass. ---
**Author:** ![PbZep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58f4c7/32.png) [@PbZep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PbZep)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leap-day-is-not-the-29th-of-february/230924/26 "2004-03-02T18:03:59Z")
I figure I’ll just add to the confusion. Again from the Oxford English Dictionary, for **Leap Year** > [@](#): > > ``` > A year having one day (now Feb. 29) more than the common year; a bissextile year. to make leap year of: (fig.) to pass over. > > ``` and Quotes: > [@](#): > > 1387 TREVISA Higden (Rolls) IV. 199 at tyme Iulius amended e kalender, and fonde e cause of the lepe ere [L. rationem bisexti invenit]. 1481 CAXTON Myrr. II. xxxi. 127 Bysexte or lepe yere, whiche in iiij yere falleth ones. 1562 J. HEYWOOD Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 207 The next leape yere after wedding was first made. 1606 W. BIRNIE Kirk-Buriall (1833) 38 In civil entries to heritage, if it be for the better, men can make leap-yeare of their father and seeke farther uppe. 1704 HEARNE Duct. Hist. (1714) I. 3 \*\*That Year was called the Bissextile; and by us Leap-Year because one day of the Week is leaped over in the Observation of the Festivals. \*\* 1834 Nat. Philos., Astron. i. 44/1 (U.K.S.) The years 1600, 2000, 2400, would be leap years. So if you look at the definition of a **Leap Day** , they say it is the 29th, but if you look at **Leap Year** , it is the day that is leapt over (in agreement with **thowan** ’s pushing back of holidays). At least when I think of leap, **thowan** ’s explaination seems better. If not, why not just call it a _long_ year or something more descriptive. Ah, well… ---
**Author:** ![Eurograff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Eurograff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eurograff)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leap-day-is-not-the-29th-of-february/230924/27 "2004-03-02T23:00:22Z")
Interesting… I’m a bit late seeing as it’s March already, but just have to say that **thowan** is correct when talking about European tradition. Because in Finland, the leap day was indeed 24th, too. I have not only clear personal experience but also cites of this in Finnish and Swedish. Only recently we ceased to follow Caesar’s orders and in 2000 the leap day was moved to 29th. Thus 1996 was the last year when the leap day was traditional February 24th, like it always had been (an exception was year 1828, when it was Feb 25th for unknown reason). See examples of old calendars [here (fin)](http://almanakka.helsinki.fi/1996/helmikuu.html) or [here (swe)](http://almanakka.helsinki.fi/1996/februari.html), leap day is called karkauspäivä / skottdagen. More calendars in [main page](http://almanakka.helsinki.fi/kalenteri.html). ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leap-day-is-not-the-29th-of-february/230924/28 "2004-03-03T15:16:19Z")
My Simpson’s calendar makes no mention of “leap day” on either the 24th nor the 29th. It does, however, mention that the 24th is International Pancake Day. Hope this helps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leap-day-is-not-the-29th-of-february/230924.md?page=1)