Story behind Leap Year.
                     STORY BEHIND 
LEAP YEAR
LEAP YEAR
A leap year is the calendar year containing an extra 
day, added to keep the calendar year in sync with the 
seasonal or astronomical year. The leap year comes 
once in every four years.
timeanddate.com
WHY LEAP YEAR?
For centuries, trying to keep the calendar in sync with 
the natural year created a lot of confusion, which was 
solved by the concept of leap years. Each leap year 
has 366 days instead of 365.
youtube.com
THE EARTH
 It all comes down to the fact that the number of 
Earth's revolutions about its own axis, or days, is not 
equal to or connected in any way to how long it takes 
for the Earth to get around the sun.
ANCIENT TIMEKEEPING
About 5000 years ago, the Sumerians simply divided 
the year into 12 months of 30 days each. Their 360 
days a year was shorter than the Earth’s revolution 
period around the Sun.
britannica.com
THE EGYPTIANS
The Egyptians were aware of this problem, but they 
did not add any extra days, instead they added five 
extra days of partying, at the end of year. Before 
adapting to this calendar, Egyptians used the Lunar 
calendar, which only has 354 days.
timeanddate.com
THE ROMANS
The Romans too used the lunar calendar, tried 
different methods to add more days to they year, but 
always failed. By then, Julius Caesar enjoyed his 
famed affair with Cleopatra, when he came to know of 
Egyptian’s 365 day-year and the leap year system.
history.com
YEAR OF CONFUSION
 Julius Caesar adopted the system by decreeing a 
single 445-day long Year of Confusion in 46 B.C, since 
the Roman calendar was lagging behind by nearly 
three months.
He then mandated a 365.25 days a year, which added 
an extra leap day every fourth year.
history.com
ALTERNATIVE CALENDARS
The Islamic calendar is a lunar system that adds up to 
only 354 days and shifts some 11 days from the 
Gregorian calendar each year and China uses the 
traditional lunar-solar calendar, which is still popular 
in everyday life.
LEAP DAY
February 29 is observed as the ‘leap day’, the one 
extra day in the month of February, which otherwise 
has only 28 days in the month.
shutterstock.com