What is a Leap Year Exactly?

hi I’m Rebecca Braden and welcome to
watchmojo.com today is the rarest day on
our calendar februari 29th is a day that
occurs only once every four years a leap
year is when the calendar year is
extended to have 366 days adding
februari 29th to the year a solar year
is the time it takes the earth to
complete its orbit around the Sun about
one year but the actual time it takes
for the earth to travel around the Sun
is in fact a little longer than that
about 365 and a quarter days so the
calendar and the solar year don’t
completely match the calendar year is a
touch shorter than the solar year it may
not seem like much of a difference but
after a few years those extra quarter
days in the solar year began to add up
after four years for example the for
extra quarter days would make the
calendar fall behind the solar year by
about a day so every four years a leap
day is added to the calendar to allow it
to catch up to the solar year believe it
or not there are a couple of strange
traditions pertaining to leap years for
example legend has it dating back to
fifth century Ireland women may make
marriage proposals only in leap years
and in some cases only on February 29th
in Greece it is believed that getting
married in a leap year is bad luck
Anthony New Mexico is the
self-proclaimed leap year capital of the
world every four years since 1988
residents throw a birthday party for
people born februari 29th a person born
in February 29th may be called a leap
lling in non-league years these people
celebrate their birthdays on the last
day of February or the first day of
March