Yeah, it’s come again. Leap Year. It is special; all that readjusting by Julius Caesar to the calendar to sort our lives into an orderly progression. Thanks Ju-Ju.
But to me, it seems Leap Day just passes by, rather unobserved in the grand scheme of things. We make more fuss in North America over Ground Hog Day than we do over Leap Day. We should celebrate Leap Day.
My celebration ideas for Leap Day: I do feel Leap Day, February 29th (always the same date) should get a higher profile, and some sort of festival. I mean there it is just another day of the week! Really it could be some sort of universal day of holiday or – how about this – a day of peace – as in a ceasefire all around the world – as in put down your guns and drones. Ukraine, Russia, Gaza, Sudan, and all the other places in the world where conflicts and wars are raging.
Traditions and some myths: There are, so I read in Saturday’s Globe and Mail, several traditions and mythology surrounding not only Leap Day but the whole Leap Year. It was viewed with a certain suspicion and weariness, such as this was an unlucky year to get married, only woe and grief would result. But then further on the marriage theme, that it was on Leap Day that women could make a marriage proposal AND the guy was obliged to say yes, or if he said no, in some way compensate the non-bride. In Denmark, he had to give her 12 pairs of gloves (again the Globe and Mail,) maybe so she could cover her hands and not reveal she did not have an engagement ring.
Leap Year 2020: Well, the last Leap Year was 2020, just, just as we headed into Covid. No, we did not need an extra day then. Another day to be worried and confined at home. Or you could say, as it was still February, and the full Covid deal did not start till March, that it let us have an extra day of freedom before you know what.
The only thing was we did not really understand what was coming along down the train tracks. But on the theme of it being an inauspicious year, with bad luck and bad things happening, that part played out. Oh dear, so what is going to happen this year? There are so many things that could go seriously sideways: elections, wars, weather….no, I did not start off in that spirit. I was looking for a celebration!