2012 is a great year to be living at the beach. Why? Local Outer Banks residents will get to enjoy the beach 366 days of out of the year. 2012 is a leap year. Every year the earth turns 365 and a quarter on its axis. Simply put, every 4th year the calendar has to play catch up and February 29th is added.
Did you know that every once in a while we skip a leap year? This is because the exact number of days in the solar year is in actuality 365.242374.
Folks born on leap day, February 29th are called “leapers”. 1 in 1,470 will be born on leap day.
People used to believe that leap years were unlucky and messing with the calendar caused bad luck. It used to be said beans planted in a leap year grew the wrong way. The old Scottish phrase “Leap year was never a good sheep year,” has been passed down for hundreds of years.
Ever heard of “ladies privilege” ?
Dating back four centuries is the tradition of women proposing to men on leap year, the “ladies privilege” was bestowed only on leap day. In a society where this was not appropriate for women to ask men for marriage, it was acceptable for women to propose to men on leap day. An old legend says if the women wore a red petticoat and the man refused her proposal he had to buy her a silk gown and give her a kiss. However, the source of this is romantic tradition is immersed in legend.
A modern day twist on the “ladies privilege” says that if your boyfriend didn’t propose on Valentine’s Day, women may propose today.
- On this day in 1972, Hank Aaron becomes first baseball player to sign for $200,000 a year.