[Ansteorra] Happy Leap Day!
Galen of Ockham, OP
galen.of.ockham at gmail.com
Fri Feb 24 05:56:56 PST 2012
I may be in a different time zone, but I'm not running 5 days fast.
Most people naturally assume the leap day is the 29th because that is a
date that doesn't appear in February except in a leap year. But
historically, the inserted day occurred on what we now call February
24th.
The Romans determined they could make up the discrepancy between the
365.2422 days of an actual (astronomical) year and the 365 days in the
calendar by adding an extra day once every four years. For whatever
reason, they picked the 6th day (inclusive counting) before the first
of March to double. In the Roman calendar, the normal day was called
ante diem sextum Kalendas Martii (the sixth day before the first of
March). The inserted day was the ante diem bis sextum Kalendas Martii
(the second sixth day before the first of March). The extra day was
inserted before the normal day. Thus, when the calendar was converted
to our modern convention of numbering the days sequentially, the extra
day corresponded to the 24th of February.
Make the best of your extra day this year knowing you're enjoying it on
its proper historical date.
Galen
More info on the Roman calendar can be found on my Natural Philosophy
website medievalscience.org under the section on Time.
--
Magister Galenus Ockhamnesis
Friar Galen of Ockham, OP
A Study in Natural Philosophy: [1]http://medievalscience.org
Chirurgeon's Point: [2]http://chirurgeon.org
References
1. http://medievalscience.org/
2. http://chirurgeon.org/
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