Finally another Leap year. It is fascinating to get 29 February every four years. Considering that February on “normal” year will have 28 Days and not 30 days (as other months), leap year is special.
More fun is the question regarding those children who are born on this date, technically they spend their birthdays every 4 years 😀 . Though legally in many countries, there birthday is considered as 1 March (for passport and driving license purposes).
In United Kingdom and Hong Kong, when a person born on February 29 turns 18 in a non-leap year, they are considered to have their birthday on March 1 in the relevant year.
In New Zealand, a person born on February 29 is suppose to have their birthday on February 28 in non-leap years, for the purposes of Driver Licensing under the Land Transport (Driver Licensing) Rule 1999. I really need to check its legality in India also. 😀
However, It seems that there was a major drawback for you to be born on 29 Feb (Leap year)
There are estimated five million people with Feb. 29 birthdays, also known as leapers. Insurance companies, banks and other major organizations often didn’t recognize leap day as a valid date, forcing people to choose either Feb. 28 or March 1 as their birthday.
Question arises then why is leap year there ?
A leap year, where an extra day is added to the end of February every four years, is down to the solar system’s disparity with the Gregorian calendar.
Leap Years are needed to keep our modern day Gregorian calendar in alignment with the earth’s revolutions around the sun. It takes the earth approximately 365.242199 days or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to rotate once around the sun. This is referred to as a tropical year.
Neil deGrasse Tyson puts it very nicely about the Leap year and working of Gregorian Calender.
Wait 28 Years for leap week or 112 years for Leap Month (what will happen to babies born during this time :D, wait 28 years to celebrate birthday or try waiting 112 years for those born in that month.)
There are some fun facts which BBC pin pointed about the leap, nice to read.
References:
http://www.rd.com/culture/leap-year-facts/
http://www.roanoke.com/life/leap-year-fun-facts/article_a68ef523-da79-5bc1-8bcf-9c6cbc85e520.html
http://www.thestar.com/life/2016/02/26/five-facts-about-leap-year.html
http://beachsidela.com/its-leap-year-2016/
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