Leap year babies, get ready to celebrate!

You know, I never really put much thought into whether a year was a Leap Year or not. Since I'm not, and don't know anyone who is, a leap year baby, there was just never any reason to be concerned about it. And let's face it, an extra day in the calendar year isn't a huge deal to celebrate. I mean, it's not like it's a holiday that we get off of work for, right? However, I do feel kind of sad for the people that have to celebrate their birthdays on a day that's different each year. Kind of takes something away from celebrating your actual birthday, don't you think? But, I just read something that puts the Leap Year birthday in a whole different perspective...

The Straight Dope - a site that claims to be fighting ignorance - has an answer for when these poor, birthday-deprived people should celebrate their birthdays. Or, better yet, the site explains that not just they, but everyone else as well, have been celebrating wrong all this time.

According to them, a birthday isn't a celebration of the specific date you were born, but the passing of an entire year - or 365 and 1/4 days - since then, which of course makes you a year older. Makes sense so far. So, if this is the case, a birthday would actually change every year. Not by much, but still the change is about a day or so, forward or back. So, as they explained:

Suppose you were born February 29, 1972 at 10 PM. Then 365 and one-quarter days went by and behold, the first anniversary of your birth hour came on March 1, 1973, at about 4 AM.
The second and third anniversaries also fell on March 1, at 10 AM and 4 PM respectively. Comes year four (1976), and your anniversary is back where it started, February 29 at 10 PM.

Things would have worked out differently if you'd been born at 4 AM on leap day. Your first, second, and third birth-hour anniversaries would have occurred on February 28 at 10 AM, 4 PM, and 10 PM, respectively. If you'd been born at 4 PM, your first anniversary would fall on February 28 but your second and third on March 1.

So basically, we've all been wrong in our birthday celebrations all of our lives. Oh well, I can't say that I'm terribly concerned about it, and I don't forsee that I will actually pay attention enough to correct this little oversight on my part, but it is a neat observation.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to all you Leaplings out there! And, if you're curious, check out the Honor Society of Leap Year babies as well as the Famous Leap Day Babies site to see who else shares your special day. Did you know that Antonio Sabato, Jr. was born on Leap Day in 1972?

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Leap year babies, get ready to celebrate!

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