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 not for a leap year, then for a couple of centuries New Year I would move 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 taken 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

The main difference between a leap year is the number of days in February. In a leap year, unlike a normal year, February has twenty-nine days instead of the usual twenty-eight. There are different opinions as to whether a leap year can be called unlucky. Superstitious people are afraid of its onset, because they associate with it the beginning of a difficult period in life. This year, a person in all matters is accompanied by failures that cannot be avoided. But this is just one of the opinions.

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The ancient legend of the leap year

Leap year is not just popularly considered bad. An old legend is associated with it, which reveals the history of the origin of this year.

The leap year is associated with the name of the angel Kasyan. The Lord trusted him with his plans and thoughts. But Kasyan could not resist the temptation and went over to the side of the dark forces. He was punished for his betrayal. For three years he was beaten for his anger and cowardice, and in the fourth year he descended to the ground and harmed people in every possible way. Our ancestors believed that Kasyan could ruin their crops and bring diseases to livestock.



It cannot be unequivocally stated that a leap year is unlucky. Yes, there are more accidents all over the world. But this is explained quite simply: the statistics of incidents increase due to the fact that the leap year is one day longer. This is a logical explanation that is difficult to dispute. The number of months does not change, but one is added for the day during which an accident, car accident or death of a person can occur.



Superstitions and signs for a birthday - what can and cannot be given, how to make a wish correctly?

Signs

Many examples related to leap years have come down to us. The most controversial of them is the sign that a marriage entered into this year will not be happy for the young. This superstition didn't just happen. He has his own history. In ancient times, the leap year was called the "Year of brides." The girl could choose her betrothed and woo him. According to the rules, the groom could not refuse, even if he was in love with another girl. Marriages were not based on mutual love. Because of this, the relationship was not happy and strong. Therefore, there was a prejudice that this year it is undesirable to hold a wedding.



In Orthodoxy, this sign is skeptical. The wedding must take place church calendar, to which leap year has nothing to do. For Muslims, this year is not bad. There are no superstitions and superstitions in Islam.

People born in a leap year were ambiguously perceived by our ancestors. Someone believed that a baby had an unhappy fate from childhood. There is an opposite opinion, according to which the child is unique, different from other children. A happy and successful life awaits him, in all endeavors he will be lucky.

People believed that a child whose birthday is February 29 is endowed with esoteric abilities. He was born for a reason, on earth he has a good and bright mission: to help others.

The Signs of Destiny cannot be ignored. If a person feels that he is endowed with a rare gift, he should use it for good purposes.



Prohibitions

There are many prohibitions that relate to people's lives. They all come down to the fact that you should not make big plans for a leap year. There is a high probability that they will not be implemented. What to avoid:

• You can not start building a house, a bathhouse, a summer residence. It is believed that an accident can occur at a construction site, which will not allow the work to be completed.
• Working with the earth is dangerous for humans. It is better not to plant new plants, as they may not take root and die.
• Kasyan will jinx a person's undertakings if he tells someone about his plans. You can trust only the closest family member or friend whose thoughts are pure.
• Ancestors advised to avoid a long journey. The journey will end badly and will not bring the expected result.
• If there is a pet in the house, in no case should you give it to anyone. Together with him, wealth and good luck will leave the house.
• Unfavorable period for starting your own business. Financial investments will not be successful, a person will lose a large amount.
• The place of work should be changed only if a person is sure that he will be able to realize himself in a new position. Otherwise, he will face problems at work.
• Women should not change their image. A new hairstyle and a change in hair color are in trouble. The fair sex will not be pleased with the changes that have taken place in her. She will feel stiff and tight for a while.

We all know that a regular year has 365 days, but there is also a leap year that has 366 days. It happens once every four calendar years, and the month of February in such a year includes one more day. But why such a year is called a leap year, few people think, and today we will tell you about the origin of this name.

Origin of the name "Leap Year"

As is the case with many other names known today, the origin of the "Leap Year" originates in Latin. Such a year has long been called "Bis Sextus". The translation from Latin of this name means "Second Sixth".

It is worth noting that such a calculation of time was introduced by the Romans, and in the Roman calendar BC, the days were not considered in the same representation in which it happens today. The Romans used to calculate days in terms of the number of days left until the next month. The Romans inserted an extra day between February 23 and 24. February 24 itself was called "sektus", which meant "the sixth day before the beginning of March." In a leap year, when an extra day was inserted between February 23 and 24, February 24 came twice, which was called "bis sectus", as we have already noted - the "Second Sixth" day.

It is easy to understand that "Bis sektus" in the Slavic sense can be easily converted into "leap", because these names are consonant. However, in the modern Gregorian calendar, as you know, an additional day is inserted not between February 23 and 24, but after February 28. So, once every four years, we have the opportunity to observe on wall calendars, calendars in our computers and smartphones, the day of February 29th.

Why do we need a leap year

Having figured out why the leap year is so called, it is also necessary to conduct a short digression about why such a year exists at all, why it was introduced.

We all know that an ordinary year consists of 365 days, we are used to it, and we do not doubt this statement for a second. However, in reality it is not entirely true, since each year is equal to 365.4 days, that is, 365 days and 6 hours. Of course, such a calculation of time is very inconvenient, and it certainly leads to certain shifts in the perception of the flow of time by people. That is why scientists astronomers decided to calculate each multiple of four years in the amount of 366 days (using 4 passages of 6 hours from other years), and all the rest - exactly 365 days each.

2016 is a leap year with 366 days instead of the usual 365. Leap year has been proposed to keep the calendars in sync. Did you know that not every 4th year is a leap year?Why is a leap year considered unlucky, and what signs are associated with it?Here are a few facts you may not have known about the leap year.

What does leap year mean?

1 . A leap year is a year that has 366 days instead of 365 as usual. An extra day in a leap year is added in February - February 29 (leap day).

The extra day in a leap year is necessary because it takes a little over 365 days to complete one revolution around the Sun, to be exact. 365 days, 5 hours, 48 ​​minutes and 46 seconds.

Humans once followed a calendar of 355 days with an extra month of 22 days every two years. But in 45 B.C. Julius Caesar, together with the astronomer Sosigenes, decided to simplify the situation, and the Julian 365-day calendar was developed with an extra day every 4 years to compensate for the extra hours.

This day was added in February as it was once the last month in the Roman calendar.

2 . This system was supplemented by Pope Gregory XIII (who introduced the Gregorian calendar), who coined the term "leap year" and declared that year divisible by 4 and divisible by 400 but not divisible by 100, is a leap year.

So according to the Gregorian calendar, 2000 was a leap year, but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not.

What are leap years in the 20th and 21st centuries?

1904, 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028, 2032, 2036, 2040, 2044, 2048, 2052, 2056, 2060, 2064, 2068, 2072, 2076, 2080, 2084, 2088, 2092, 2096

February 29 - leap day

3 . February 29 is considered the only day a woman can propose to a man. The tradition began in 5th century Ireland when Saint Brigid complained to Saint Patrick that women had to wait too long for a proposal from worshipers.

Then he gave women one day in a leap year - the last day in the shortest month, so that the fair sex could propose to a man.

According to legend, Brigitte immediately knelt down and proposed to Patrick, but he refused, kissing her on the cheek, and offered her a silk dress to soften the refusal.

4 . According to another version, this tradition appeared in Scotland, when Queen Margaret, at the age of 5, announced in 1288 that a woman can propose to any man she likes on February 29th.

She also made a rule that those who refused had to pay a fine in the form of a kiss, a silk dress, a pair of gloves, or money. To warn fans in advance, a woman was supposed to wear trousers or a red petticoat on the day of the proposal.

In Denmark, a man who refuses a woman's marriage proposal must provide her with 12 pairs of gloves, and in Finland, fabric for a skirt.

Leap year wedding

5 . One in five couples in Greece avoid getting married on a leap year, as it is believed that this brings bad luck.

In Italy, it is considered that in a leap year woman becomes unpredictable and at this time no need to plan important events. So, according to the Italian proverb "Anno bisesto, anno funesto". ("Leap year is a doomed year").

February 29

6 . The odds of being born on February 29 are 1 in 1461. Around the world, about 5 million people were born on a leap day.

7 . For centuries, astrologers believed that children born on a leap day have unusual talents, a unique personality, and even special powers. Among famous people born on February 29, one can name the poet Lord Byron, the composer Gioachino Rossini, the actress Irina Kupchenko.

8. In Hong Kong, the official birthday for those born on February 29th is March 1st in normal years, while in New Zealand it is February 28th. If you calculate the time correctly, then traveling from one country to another, you can celebrate longest birthday in the world.

9. The city of Anthony in Texas, USA is a self-proclaimed " leap year capital of the world". A festival is held here annually, where those who wish from all over the world, born on February 29, gather.

10. Record largest number generations born on a leap day, belongs to the Keogh family.

Peter Anthony Keogh was born February 29, 1940 in Ireland, his son Peter Eric was born February 29, 1964 in the UK, and his granddaughter Bethany Wealth was born February 29, 1996.

11. Karin Henriksen from Norway holds the world record having the most children on a leap day.

Her daughter Heidi was born on February 29, 1960, her son Olav on February 29, 1964, and her son Lief-Martin on February 29, 1968.

12. In the traditional Chinese, Jewish and ancient Indian calendar, not a leap day is added to the year, but a whole month. It is called the "intercalary month". It is believed that children born in a leap month are more difficult to raise. In addition, it is considered unlucky to start serious business in a leap year.

Leap year: signs and superstitions

Since ancient times, a leap year has always been considered difficult and bad for many undertakings. In popular belief, the leap year is associated with Saint Kasian, which was considered evil, envious, stingy, unmerciful and brought misfortune to people.

According to legend, Kasyan was a bright angel to whom God entrusted all plans and intentions. But then he went over to the side of the Devil, telling him that God intends to overthrow all satanic power from heaven.

For betrayal, God punished Kasyan, ordering him to be beaten on the forehead with a hammer for three years, and in the fourth year he was released to the ground, where he committed unkind deeds.

There are many signs associated with a leap year:

First, in a leap year can't start anything. This applies to important matters, business, major purchases, investments and construction.

Is it possible to get married or get married on a leap year?

A leap year is considered extremely unsuccessful for marriage. Since ancient times, it was believed that a wedding played on a leap year would lead to an unhappy marriage, divorce, infidelity, widowhood, or the marriage itself would be short-lived.

Such a superstition may be due to the fact that in a leap year, girls could marry anyone they liked. young man who could not refuse an offer. Often such marriages were forced, and therefore family life did not ask.

However, it is worth treating these signs wisely and understanding that everything depends on the spouses themselves and on how they build relationships. If you still planned a wedding, there are several ways to mitigate the "consequences":

Brides are advised to wear long wedding dress covering the knees to make the marriage durable.

Wedding dress and other wedding accessories not recommended to give to anyone.

The ring should be worn on the hand, not the glove., since wearing a ring on a glove will cause spouses to be frivolous about marriage

To protect the family from troubles and misfortunes, a coin was put in the shoes of the bride and groom.

What can not be done in a leap year?

・In a leap year do not carol at Christmas time because it is believed that you can lose your happiness. Also, according to the sign, a caroler who dresses in an animal or monster can take on a personality evil spirits.

· Pregnant women shouldn't cut their hair before giving birth. because the baby may be born unhealthy.

・In a leap year do not start building a bath which can lead to illness.

· Can't pick mushrooms, since it is believed that they all become poisonous.

In a leap year, you do not need to celebrate the appearance baby's first tooth. According to the sign, if you invite guests, your teeth will be bad.

· You can not change jobs or apartments. According to you, the new place will turn out to be bleak and restless.

If a child was born in a leap year, it must be baptize as soon as possible, and godparents to choose among blood relatives.

Older people should not buy things for the funeral because it can bring death closer.

· Can't get divorced because in the future you will not be able to find your happiness.

I hope you had a great New Year's Eve and are now in a great holiday mood. At least this is how it is for me - we didn’t drink any alcohol, and at midnight we clinked glasses of water from a five-liter canister, so we woke up, took a walk, and then I remembered one of yesterday’s New Year’s greetings:

I wish that at the end of each year, remembering what happened over the past 366 if ((year%4 == 0 and year%100 != 0) or (year%400 == 0)) else 365 days, think about myself:

Oh, nifiga yourself, what an action was. I will definitely tell my grandchildren or write a book about it later.

So, above is a fairly simple inline way to determine the number of days in a year (year variable), which, in fact, fully reveals their essence: in the Gregorian calendar, leap years are those years whose serial number is either a multiple of 4, but not a multiple of 100 , or divisible by 400. In other words, if a year is divisible by 4 without a remainder, but divisible by 100 only with a remainder, then it is a leap year, otherwise it is not a leap year, except if it is divisible by 400 without a remainder, then it is still a leap year.

For example, 2013 is a common year, 1700, 1800 and 1900 are again common years, but 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 are leap years.

But what if we don't remember how many days there are in leap years (366 days) and common years (365 days), or we just want to write the definition of the number of days in a year as quickly as possible? Is it possible to do this in Python? Of course you can.

So, Python has a calendar module. It is just great for finding out if a particular year is a leap year (or, for example, how many leap years are in a certain interval), determining the number of days in a month, getting the number of the day of the week for a certain date, and so on.

In particular, we can get the number of days in each month of the year, and simply add them up.

The calendar.monthrange function takes the year number as the first argument and the month number as the second argument. Returns the number of the day of the week on the first day of the given month and the number of days in the given month:

>>> import calendar >>> calendar.monthrange(2013, 1) (1, 31)
Accordingly, we can calculate the total number of days for all 12 months, and thus obtain the number of days for a given year:

>>> import calendar >>> year = 2013 >>> sum(map(lambda x: calendar.monthrange(year, x), range(1, 13))) 365
But if you think about how exactly this line is executed, it becomes obvious that this solution is very inefficient if you need to calculate the number of days for a large number years.

We check with the timeit module.

To complete it 1 million times, it takes 13.69 seconds if import calendar is done once at the beginning. If import calendar is done every time then 14.49 seconds.

Now let's try another option. It requires knowing how many days there are in leap and non-leap years, but it is very short:

>>> import calendar >>> year = 2013 >>> 365+calendar.isleap(year) 365
And, as you might guess, it is already much faster: 0.83 seconds, including import calendar, and 0.26 seconds if import calendar is done once at the beginning.

Let's also see how long the very first option takes, with a "manual" approach: 0.07 seconds for 2012 and 2013 and 0.12 seconds for 2000 (I think everyone understands where such a difference in speed for these years comes from).

It turns out that this is the fastest option out of these three:

>>> import calendar >>> year = 2013 >>> 366 if ((year%4 == 0 and year%100 != 0) or (year%400 == 0)) else 365 365
Of course, in most cases, you can use either of these options - after all, when determining the number of days in one, two, ten, or a hundred years, you are unlikely to feel any difference.

Write, optimize, improve, test and evaluate performance - but don't forget about the readability of your program sources.

Happy New Year! Good luck, happiness, joy and self-improvement in the new year.