What is a leap year and how does it occur. Leap year is not terrible

It cannot be said that on the eve of the New Year, everyone, except children, is in a good high spirits. The past year turned out to be too full of sad and sad incidents. It does not add joy and the fact that next year will be a leap year. However, it is not recommended to celebrate the holiday with such a gloomy mood, so let's try to think rationally about how real our fears are when trying to consider the near future. It is possible that thanks to this, the coming 12 months will not seem so gloomy.

Leap year - what does it mean, is it good or bad?

If the second month of winter has 29 days instead of 28, then the year is called a leap year. It appears due to a small discrepancy in our astronomical calendar of the number of days with the actual time during which our planet makes a complete circuit around the Sun. Since this happens in 365 days and 6 hours, it was decided by the scientific world to take into account the “extra” day of February that does not fit the “tail”.

A leap year means that February of that year is one day longer.

In fact, an extra day in the year has no effect on the outside world, since its appearance is a tribute to convention. If negative changes took place in the lives of people, countries on the eve of a leap year, then the educated tendency, if countermeasures are not taken, will continue due to circumstances and further, and not because of an “extra” day.

However, people who are distrustful of any changes in life tend to "look for an elephant in every fly" and expect bad things at every opportunity. Due to this, in a leap year, many see social and political troubles. It is logical to assume that with such an attitude, the execution of any large-scale affairs for many will be carried out with insufficient zeal and, as a result, the standard of living will definitely decrease from this. As a result, the leap year will be blamed for the worsened state of affairs, and not their carelessness.

wedding during this period

In the old days, in a leap year, professional matchmakers were left without work, because the girls were given the right to independently choose a spouse. It is possible that this is precisely why the expression “you cannot marry” was born - as an indication of the fact that when a family was formed, the initiative was transferred to women. Over time, the essence of the tradition was lost, but a warning rule appeared that did not recommend starting a family in a year whose February has 29 days. Since it was believed that a married couple was expected:

  • unstable financial situation,
  • unhappy life together.

Interestingly, divorce in a non-standard year is also not recommended. According to forecasts, such couples are guaranteed a lack of personal happiness in the future. But for the most determined connoisseurs of traditional recommendations, a loophole has been left:

If a spouse released from marital obligations comes to church with a towel and utters the cherished words “I pay tribute to the leap year, and you, family angel, stand next to me.”

That is, there is a chance that the one who performed the rite will still be able to find his true "native" soul mate.

Even for those who get married in the church, a verbal amulet has been invented, which must be pronounced by the priest performing the ceremony. It sounds like this: "I crown with a crown, and not with a leap end."

Birth of a child

Superstition favors newborns in a leap year, promising a good fate in all respects. So you need boldly, then two.

What does it mean to be born in a long year?

Omens regarding people born in a leap year, oddly enough, are very favorable. Such people are prophesied luck in business, an easy fate. Those who were born on a rare day in February are credited with beyond possibility: the gift of divination.

For those born on a “strange day”, this actually means that every three years in a row, legal name days will have to be celebrated either on February 28 or March 1.

What can and cannot be done in a year with 29 days in February?

You cannot do:

  • For a taboo on a haircut (In order not to harm the health of the unborn child).
  • Those planning new events, business projects, talk about plans. (However, if the intentions cannot be notified to the partners, then what business will get off the ground?).
  • To drown the kittens. (No comment).
  • Sell ​​any domestic animals (Then the livestock farmers will definitely seem hungry for a year).
  • Caroling. (Otherwise, a person may be exposed to circumstances under the influence of which he will change greatly).
  • Lay the foundation of the house, build a bath. Otherwise, everything erected will soon become unusable or disappear due to fire. (Apparently, in some cities for a decade the leap year has firmly established itself and is not going to leave).
  • Change place of residence, source of income.
  • Celebrate the "First Tooth" holiday. (As a punishment for non-compliance with the recommendation, you can get bad teeth for life).
  • Go out on a quiet hunt for mushrooms. (Experienced connoisseurs say that myceliums are renewed every four years, which negatively affects the quality of even good mushrooms - they become unsuitable for food. However, on which stump can you read in what years the local mycelium experienced a rejuvenation process?).
  • Prepare funeral equipment for the future.
  • Travel far from home. If you can’t get away from the journey, you need to pronounce a special conspiracy. Or just wish yourself a mental quick and safe return to the same house - if there is a desire to return to it.

You can and should do:

  • Burn the old slippers, and put a new pair in their place. It is recommended to burn your used slippers, pronouncing phrases with the wish to burn in the observed fire to all troubles and misfortunes.
  • On New Year's Eve, thank the forces of the Cosmos for all the good things that happened in the past year, household members, and luck in business.
  • Hearing a dog howl at any distance from you, you need to say: "Go howl, but not to my house."
  • Planting a garden with seedlings, sowing seeds, say something like: “I plant, but I won’t go into the ground.” (Maybe it’s better not to spend all your free time in the garden and take a break sometimes?).

What is dangerous this year?

In fact: what you want, that's what you expect.

People who believe in the unfavorable aura of a leap year are preparing to receive from it:

  1. complications in the life of the country and a person in particular (due to political or religious instability, which, as a rule, is reflected in the everyday level of citizens of the state and the world);
  2. crop problems (unpredictable frosts, problems with precipitation, excessive solar activity, migration of crop-damaging insects);
  3. difficulties in concluding partnership agreements, delays in terms of previously concluded agreements;
  4. health problems, reduced immune forces.

It is dangerous because, having succumbed to the influence of superstitions, a person will begin to lead a less active position. Because of this, even when he can refuse a good career offer, business project, partnership or marital relationship. And good chances in any field don't happen all that often.

Therefore, it is up to you to choose: to build your life with an eye on ancient superstitions that can exist today in the form of concepts that distort the real essence, or to approach the solution of existing problems in an adult way.

Considering the growing popularity of all kinds of negative predictions during periods of financial crises, with the intensification of political confrontations on the world stage, it can be assumed that next year many of the people around will fall into a kind of somnambulistic state and will show low social activity.

The following benefits can be derived from this:

Take a better look at the environment: employees, associates and partners who will make fateful decisions without making allowances for the superstitious restrictions that exist for 2016 are the main driving backbone of your business.

Such people do not draw conclusions on the basis of unsubstantiated conclusions, but are guided by purely facts. An exception can be made only for people - if there are such people in your circle - who really have super abilities and pump the necessary information, as they say, “out of thin air”. Although in reality they are most likely just great analysts.

Concluding contracts with new partners, first try to find out their ins and outs in their personal lives. If it turns out that a person is superstitious by nature, then:

  1. you can take on the role of a superbeing and make sure that the desired partner now and then catches the eye of “signs” indicating great benefits for him in cooperation with you;
  2. be prepared for the fact that a change in the terms of the agreements may occur unexpectedly, since the representative on the other side will dream something wrong, dream.

2016 is a leap year. This is not such a rare occurrence, because every 4 years in February there is a 29th day. There are many superstitions associated with this year, but is it really so dangerous? Let's try to figure it out if leap years are different. The 21st century list for leap years follows the same principle as before.

Leap year definition

We all know that there are 365 days in a year, but sometimes there are 366. What does it depend on? First of all, it should be noted that we live according to the Gregorian calendar, in which ordinary years are those that contain 365 days, and leap years are those that are one day more, respectively, 366 days. This is because periodically in February there are not 28, but 29 days. This happens once every four years, and this very year is usually called a leap year.

How to determine a leap year

Those years, the numbers of which can be divided without a remainder by the number 4, are classified as those that are called leap years. A list of them can be found in this article. Let's say the current year is 2016, if we divide it by 4, then we get a number without a remainder as a result of division. Accordingly, it is a leap year. In a normal year, there are 52 weeks and 1 day. Each subsequent year is shifted by one day in relation to the days of the week. After a leap year, the shift occurs immediately by 2 days.

It is counted from the first day of the spring equinox to the beginning of the next. This period, just, does not have exactly 365 days, which are indicated in the calendar, but somewhat more.

Exception

The exception is the zero years of centuries, that is, those at the end of which there are two zeros. But if such a year number can be divided without a remainder by 400, then it is also considered a leap year.

If we take into account that there are not exactly six hours extra in a year, then the missing minutes also affect the calculation of time. It was calculated that for this reason, in 128 years, one extra day will run in this way. In this regard, it was decided that not every fourth year be considered a leap year, but to exclude from this rule those years that are a multiple of 100, except for those that are divisible by 400.

The history of the leap year

To be more precise, according to the Egyptian solar calendar introduced by Julius Caesar, there are not exactly 365 days in a year, but 365.25, that is, plus another quarter of a day. The extra quarter of the day in this case is 5 hours 48 minutes and 45 seconds, which are rounded up to 6 hours, which is the fourth part of the day. But adding such a small unit of time every year is not practical.

In four years, a quarter of the day turns into a full day, which are added to the year. So February, which has fewer days than normal months, adds an extra day - and only in a leap year does it have February 29th.

Leap years: a list of years of the past and the 21st century. Example:

It was decided to adjust the calendar year in accordance with the astronomical one - this was done so that the seasons always come on the same day. Otherwise, the boundaries would shift over time.

From the Julian calendar, we switched to the Gregorian, which differs from the previous one in that a leap year occurs once every four years, and according to the Julian - once every three years. The Russian Orthodox Church still lives according to the old style. It is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Hence the celebration of dates in the old and new style. So, Catholics celebrate Christmas according to the old style - December 25, and in Russia according to the Gregorian calendar - January 7.

Where did the fear of a leap year come from?

The word "leap year" comes from the Latin phrase "bis sextus", which translates as "the second sixth".

Most people associate a leap year with something bad. All these superstitions have gone back to ancient Rome. In the modern world, days are counted from the beginning of the month, but in ancient times it was different. They counted the days that remained until the beginning of the next month. Suppose, if we say February 24, then the ancient Romans in this case used the expression "the sixth day before the beginning of March."

When there was a leap year, an extra day appeared between the numbers of February 24 and 25. That is, in a normal year, there were 5 days left until March 1, and already 6 in a leap year, which is why the expression “second sixth” went.

With the advent of March, the fast ended, which lasted five days, if you start from February 24, but when you add an extra day, the fast already lasted, respectively, 1 day longer. Therefore, they considered such a year to be bad - hence the superstition about the unluckyness of leap years.

In addition, superstition came from the fact that only in a leap year is Kasyanov's Day celebrated, which falls on February 29th. This holiday is considered mystical. In this regard, for a long time people have been trying not to do big things in such years, not to get married, not to have children, and so on. Despite the simplicity of the algorithm for determining a leap year, some may wonder: "What years are leap years?".

Leap years of the 19th century: a list

1804, 1808, 1812, 1816, 1820, 1824, 1828, 1832, 1836, 1840, 1844, 1848, 1852, 1856, 1860, 1864, 1868, 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884, 1888, 1892, 1896.

Leap years of the 20th century: their list is as follows:

1904, 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996

What are leap years? The list of years of the current century will be constructed similarly to the previous ones. Let's get to know him. Leap years (list) of the 21st century will be calculated in the same way. That is, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, etc.

Signs associated with a leap year

This year, it is believed, it is impossible to change the familiar environment. This can be understood as moving to a new place of residence, looking for a new job.

It was believed that marriages entered into this year could not bring happiness, and it was not recommended to hold weddings.

It is also impossible to do anything, start new business. This includes starting a business, building a house.

Let's answer the question of what years are leap years? List of 19th, 20th and 21st centuries:

It is better to postpone long trips and travel.

You can't celebrate a child's first tooth.

From ancient times, such years were considered dangerous, bringing many deaths, diseases, wars and crop failures. People, especially superstitious ones, fear the approach of such a year, having already prepared in advance for the worst. But are they really that dangerous?

Opinion on established superstition

The Church does not see anything wrong with these years, explaining such a phenomenon as a leap year, just by changes in the calendar that were once made. Based on statistics, such years are no different from ordinary ones. Even if we take the question of marriage in a leap year, which prophesies a short life in marriage, then the number of divorces of "leap marriages" is nothing more than among those couples who got married in ordinary years.

Every 4 years humanity has a leap year. It is in this year, in February, that magically becomes 29 days.

Many signs and beliefs are associated with it, many of which have pagan roots, but there are also Christian elements. Sometimes, it comes to the fact that in a leap year people refuse such usual activities as vacations at sea or regular trips to the country.

What is a leap year and how justified are the signs associated with it?

Leap year: where did the extra day come from?

Do you think that the Earth makes a complete rotation in exactly 365 days? No, this is not so - the Earth makes a full circle around the Sun a little longer, namely, 365 days and 6 hours.

In other words, every year an extra quarter of a day is added. For 4 years of such quarters, it turns out to be 24 hours. So it turned out that a year that is a multiple of 4 (2008, 2012, 2016, the leap year calendar is based on this principle) is different from the rest.

The leap year is designed to eliminate this surplus and bring balance to the chronology. If it were not for the leap year, then in a couple of centuries the new year would have been transferred to the beginning of March, and this is quite serious!

Leap year differences

The differences between a leap year and other years, from a material point of view, are limited only by the number of days. In addition, people have to work more for one day. Sometimes, however, it turns out to rest once again, but this happens quite rarely.

From an astrological point of view, during the track of the Earth around the Sun in a leap year, a lot of trouble occurs:

  • domestic problems in people;
  • man-made disasters;
  • natural disasters;
  • relatively high mortality.

However, one can argue with the latter - there are no comments from ritual service workers about the increase in mortality. Only slightly more elderly people die.

Leap year: greetings from antiquity

For the first time, the ancient Romans took care of the problem of the inconsistency of the calendar with the real flow of time. In this country, it was forbidden to transfer significant dates to another time of the year. People were guided by the movement of the Sun in the sky.

Gaius Julius Caesar solved the problem quickly and radically - from the moment of his reign, people began to live according to the Julian calendar, which just added one day to February every 4 years. They began to move to the new calendar gradually, not everyone accepted it, but time took its toll.

Over time, the pagan calendar migrated to Christian culture. But in some regions this year is associated with Kasyan Visokos, one of the saints, the patron saint of monasticism.

Allegedly, for three years he has been drinking heavily, and for 4 he gets out of "binge" and takes revenge on people for the fact that his day is celebrated only once every 4 years.

Here, however, there is a discrepancy - a Christian saint, by definition, cannot be a drunkard, plus there is no record in the church that Visokos likes to drink.

Signs and beliefs associated with a leap year

Now the leap year is relatively easy, and before, some people were afraid to leave the house on February 29 in a leap year. For example, there was an omen that if it was a good freeze on that day, and at the end of February frosts could be severe, then a person would certainly catch a bad cold and die.

The same applies to livestock. Popular belief says that any mistake in the care of pets, on this day, can cost the animals their lives. For example, malnutrition or overfeeding.

Starting a new business in a leap year, according to popular belief, cannot bring much success.

Everything will definitely go awry: even if a person builds a house, even if he opens a business. In addition, all major matters should be postponed at least until February 29 - this time is considered the most unfortunate since the beginning of the year.

To propitiate Vysokos a little, you need to do the following:

  • under the chiming clock, throw a glass of vodka out of the window (other alcohol is also suitable, but it must be strong);
  • to drink without clinking glasses when it is exactly midnight;
  • if you still clinked glasses, then before you sip, you need to put the glasses on the table.

According to popular belief, Visokos' anger will subside a little before the completion of the next track around the Sun.

Another interesting sign is associated with the collection of gifts of nature. It is usually difficult to pick mushrooms and berries on February 29, but things found on the street, such as money, can bring trouble if they get into the house.

And if at the same time the dog howls (dog day on February 29 is a bad sign in itself), then trouble is guaranteed. You need to ignore him, while saying "Step away from me."

Leap year bans

Since this year is so unlucky, the people have come up with many prohibitions, observing which, you can avert trouble from your home. By the way, nature also “participates” in these prohibitions.

For example, according to the memoirs of old-timers, in years that are leap years, there is usually a weak harvest of apples.

So, what not to do in a leap year:

  • You can not carol at baptism. This ritual in itself is relatively associated with evil spirits, and once every four years it is especially “attentive” to people. Better not to involve any rubbish. So no matter how many people offer sweets, it is better to avoid carols.
  • Selling homemade products is not recommended. It is believed that happiness and wealth leave the house with them.
  • You can not show anyone the first erupted tooth in a baby, except perhaps the closest relatives. If you violate the ban, then the child will have crooked teeth.
  • You can’t start new big things, including getting married / getting married. Everything will go awry, as already mentioned above.
  • You can not buy "coffin things." It sounds strange, but for some people of advanced age it is the norm to buy things for their own funerals. Such an action in a leap year will hasten death.
  • Women are strictly forbidden to dye their hair. This can lead to the lady going bald.
  • It is forbidden to change the place of work or place of residence. In a new place, a person simply will not take root, you will have to start everything from scratch (this item is sometimes impossible, because there are different circumstances in life).

This forbidden group is joined by the birth of children, but not everyone takes this restriction seriously.

Maybe this all sounds archaic, but the fact remains that people often complain to astrologers and psychics about the misfortunes that began just after the violation of such prohibitions.

The conclusion is that until the Earth makes a complete revolution around the Sun in a leap year, some activities should be abandoned.

What do astrologers think?

In 2016, I made an anonymous personal calendar for a young man. He was about to launch a new business project, but numerology showed that the undertaking would not only become extremely unsuccessful, but could even lead to the death of my client.

Unfortunately, he did not listen to me, he did the opposite. The result is deplorable - although he survived, he lost everything to the penny, now he is starting a new life.

Surprisingly, most of these calendars for different people, made in leap years, showed similar results. I do not really believe in the involvement of negative entities in the problems, but the influence of the planets in these years is very negative.

A leap year should pass calmly and without unnecessary movements, I tell you for sure!

Irina, Moscow

All the predictions that I made for people who want to get married on a leap year did not say anything good. This time is a time of failures, misunderstandings, conflicts and contradictions, what kind of marriage can we talk about?

At the same time, many of these “married couples” broke up before the wedding. Since 2016, only 5-10% of those families have survived.

Mortality, by the way, is also on the rise! Elderly people die in batches on a leap year. Pray more often, do not anger the higher powers! And go to church every day for about 7.

Svyatoslav, Yaroslavl

I believe that the leap year is a pagan Slavic belief. The ancestors endowed February with demonic power, they were afraid of him like fire.

So this belief has come down to us in a greatly altered form. There is nothing wrong with a leap year, but a little care still does not hurt.

Irma, Moscow

High mortality, that's what a leap year is. It is rare when it is necessary, at this time, to make favorable forecasts.

Basically, people have to solve some problems. I advise you not to violate the prohibitions of the leap year and often undergo purification rites.

Svetlana, Samara

First a note. Not every 4th year is a leap year. Why - we will explain later.

In a normal year there are 365 days. In a leap year, there are 366 days - one day more, due to the addition of an additional day at the number 29 to the month of February, as a result of which those born on this day experience certain difficulties in celebrating their birthday.

A year is the time during which the planet Earth makes one revolution around the Sun in relation to the stars (apparently measured as the interval between two successive passages of the Sun through the vernal equinox).

A day (or often in everyday speech - a day) is the time during which the Earth makes one revolution around its axis. As you know, there are 24 hours in a day.

It turns out that the year does not fit an even number of days. There are 365 days, 5 hours, 48 ​​minutes and 45.252 seconds in a year. If the year is taken equal to 365 days, then it turns out that the Earth in its orbital movement will not "reach" the point at which the circle "closes", i.e. it takes another 5 hours, 48 ​​minutes and 45.252 seconds to fly in orbit. These extra about 6 hours in 4 years will just be collected in one additional day, which was introduced into the calendar to eliminate the backlog, receiving every 4th year leap year- a day longer. He did this on January 1, 45 BC. e. Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar, and the calendar has since been called Julian. In fairness, it must be said that Julius Caesar introduced a new calendar only by authority, and, of course, astronomers calculated and proposed it.

The Russian word "leap" comes from the Latin expression "bis sextus" - "the second sixth". The ancient Romans counted the days of the month until the beginning of the next month. So the day of February 24 was the sixth before the beginning of March. In a leap year, an additional, second (bis sextus) sixth day was inserted between February 24 and February 25. Later, this day began to increase towards the end of the month, on February 29.

So, according to the Julian calendar, every 4th year is a leap year.

But it is easy to see that 5 hours, 48 ​​minutes and 45.252 seconds is not exactly 6 hours (11 minutes 14 seconds are missing). Of these 11 minutes and 14 seconds in 128 years, another extra day will “run in”. This was noticed from astronomical observations on the shift of the day of the vernal equinox, relative to which church holidays are calculated, in particular Easter. By the 16th century, the backlog was 10 days (today it is already 13 days). To eliminate it, Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar ( Gregorian calendar), according to which not every 4th year was a leap year. There were no leap years, multiples of one hundred, that is, ending in two zeros. The only exceptions were years divisible by 400.

So, leap years are years: 1) divisible by 4, but not by 100 (for example, 2016, 2020, 2024),

Note that the Russian Orthodox Church refused to switch to the Gregorian calendar and lives according to the old, Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian. If the church continues to refuse to switch to the generally accepted Gregorian calendar, then in a few hundred years the shift will become such that, for example, Christmas will be celebrated in the summer.

sharky:
03/25/2013 at 16:04

and why is 1900 not a leap year? A leap year occurs every 4 years, i.e. Divisible by 4, it's a leap year. And no more divisions by 100 or 400.

Asking questions is normal, but before you say something, study the materiel. The earth revolves around the sun in 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds. As you can see, the rest is not exactly 6 hours, but 11 minutes 14 seconds less. This means that by making a leap year we add extra time. Somewhere in 128 years, extra days accumulate. Therefore, every 128 years in one of the 4-year cycles, a leap year is not necessary to get rid of these extra days. But to simplify, a leap year is not made every 100th year. Is the idea clear? Good. But how then to proceed, because an extra day is added every 128 years, and we cut it every 100 years? Yes, we cut off more than it should be, and this must be returned sometime.

If the first paragraph is clear and still interesting, then read on, but it will be more difficult.

So, in 100 years, 100/128=25/32 days of excess time accumulate (this is 18 hours 45 minutes). We do not make a leap year, that is, we subtract one day: we get 25/32-32/32 = -7/32 days (this is 5 hours and 15 minutes), that is, we subtract the excess. After four cycles of 100 years each (after 400 years) we will subtract an extra 4*(-7/32)=-28/32 days (this is minus 21 hours). On the 400th year, we make a leap year, that is, we add a day (24 hours): -28/32+32/32=4/32=1/8 (this is 3 hours).
We make every 4 years a leap year, but at the same time every 100 years is not a leap year and at the same time every 400 years is a leap year, but still every 400 years an extra 3 hours are added. After 8 cycles of 400 years, that is, after 3200 years, an extra 24 hours will accumulate, that is, one day. Then one more obligatory condition is added: every 3200th year should not be a leap year. 3200 years can be rounded up to 4000, but then again you have to play with added or truncated days.
3200 years have not passed, so this condition, if it is made so, is not yet spoken of. But 400 years have already passed since the approval of the Gregorian calendar.
Years divisible by 400 are always leap years (for now), other years divisible by 100 are not leap years, other years divisible by 4 are leap years.

My calculation shows that in the current state, an error of one day accumulates over 3200 years, but this is what Wikipedia writes about this:
“An error of one day compared to the year of the equinoxes in the Gregorian calendar will accumulate in about 10,000 years (in the Julian - in about 128 years). A frequently encountered estimate, leading to a value of the order of 3000 years, is obtained if we do not take into account that the number of days in a tropical year changes with time and, in addition, the ratio between the lengths of the seasons changes. From the same Wikipedia, the formula for the length of the year in days with fractions paints a good picture:

365,2425=365+0,25-0,01+0,0025=265+1/4-1/100+1/400

The year 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was, and special, because such a leap year happens once every 400 years.