Horny nuns, dark histories, unbridled superstition and everything else you need to know about Leap Day 2024

It’s 2024, which means February 29 made the calendar cut this go-round, making it a Leap Year.

A rare, storied and wondrous addition to Pisces season, read on to learn more about the history, astrology, numerology, and superstitions that surround Leap Day.

Why is there a Leap Day every 4 years?

It gets math-y, folks.

An average calendar year is 365 days long, roughly the number of days it takes the Earth to complete its orbit around the sun. The trouble lies in the “roughly” part of the equation. In actuality, it takes the Earth, 365.25 day to make this orbit. To account for the extra 1/4 day we add a day to the calendar every four years.

If we did not, over the course of centuries, the seasons would lose their calendrical boundaries and summer would fall in December and all that is hot, fertile, and holy would be upended.

Many early civilizations observed lunisolar calendars that included entire Leap months. Yet, it was Julius ‘Ides of March’ Ceasar who, inspired by the Egyptian solar calendar, decided to add a day to February every fourth year. Leap Day was born and the Julian Calendar took effect on January 1st, 45 B.C.E.

Why is it called a Leap Year?

An average year spans 52 weeks and one day. Under this kind of calendar, if your birthday falls on a Sunday one year, it would fall on a Monday the next year. Yet, the bonus of an extra day during a Leap Year indicates that your birthday now “leaps” over a day. If you celebrated on a Sunday last year, this year the joyous occasion of your solar return will take place on a Tuesday.

If you are a ‘leapling’ —AKA one of the precious few whose birthday falls on February 29, — may I suggest you toast your solar return with a Leap Year cocktail?

This gin-based libation was born on Leap Day 1928. Created by barman Harry Craddock for the Leap Year celebration at London’s Savoy Hotel, “it is said to have been responsible for more proposals than any other cocktail that has ever been mixed.”

The astrology of Leap Day 2024

In addition to getting one more sun up and sundown out of Pisces season, Leap Day affords us a bonus day for taking our intentions from thought to will.

On February 29, 2024, the sun, Mercury, Saturn, and Neptune will all be doing the backstroke in the mystical, rose-gold bath waters of Pisces, heightening our collective sense of intuition and opening us to messages, download and lightning bolts of inspiration from the world beyond.

The energy here is hopeful, and the influence of ‘make the immaterial material’ Saturn suggests what can be dreamed can be done.

A positive connection between Mercury, planet of the mind, and Jupiter, the gilded planet of expansion on February 29 indicates that our thoughtful intentions are more primed than ever to lead us to plenty. Think of this Leap Day as a hallowed time to dream the dream and believe in its capacity to come through, and come true.

Distilling the miraculous nature of Leap Day is Russian-American author Vera Nazarian who imparts, “Today is an ephemeral ghost…it contains one of those truly rare moments of delightful transience and light uncertainty that only exist on the razor edge of things, along a buzzing plane of quantum probability…A day of unlocked potential. Will you or won’t you? Should you or shouldn’t you? Use this day to do something daring, extraordinary, and unlike yourself. Take a chance and shape a different pattern in your personal cloud of probability!”

Numerology of 2/29/2024

From a numerological perspective, 2/29/2024 is a number 3.

In numerology, 3 is ruled by the lucky AF planet Jupiter and relates to expression, creativity, divine connection, and ceaseless optimism, tripling down on the hopeful energy of this day of days.

All the good juju is a boon for a day that has historically been given a bad rap for bad luck.

Steeped in superstition, cultures throughout the world regard February 29th as a day of doom.

In parts of the Mediterranean, it’s believed that any marriage consecrated on Leap Day will end in divorce. In India, superstition holds that you must do “daanam” or charitable deeds to ward off/counteract the day’s ill effects.

Why are humans superstitious?

From knocking on wood, wearing lucky underwear, avoiding black cats, ladders and cracks, throwing salt over our shoulders, and crossing our fingers, we are, universally and historically, a very superstitious lot.

Why do we as humans create the conditions of superstition?

Karen Cunningham, a licensed marriage & family therapist, explains.

“People need things to make sense. Anxiety exists when we focus on things that we don’t have an answer to. Our brains are anticipatory; we want to know what to expect, and we want to know why things are the way they are. Superstitions can provide a sense of control in a chaotic world; when someone holds a belief that, ‘if I do this, then that will follow,’ for example, ‘if I wear my lucky underwear, then my football team will win,’ it allows the anticipatory part of the brain to rest in some comfort of what is to come.”

Comfort through a feigned sense of control, bless it.

Leap Year superstitions/traditions

Leap Day comes correct with its own set of superstitions and traditions. Read on to learn more.

1. Reverse proposal

The Irish call Leap Day “Bachelor’s Day” or “Ladies Privilege.” A touch outdated by modern standards, the tradition gave women the ordained option to propose marriage on February 29. Popularized in the 19th century but dating back to the 5th, legend holds that “Ladies Privilege” began as a way to satisfy impatient, horny nuns. In that earlier era, nuns were permitted to marry but not many among the habited were fielding proposals.

St. Bridget appealed to St. Patrick to allow the babes of Ireland to ask for a man’s hand in marriage once a year. The pair settled on once every four years on Leap Day.

If you choose the road of reversed proposal you’ll join the bold, asking ranks of power Pisces Elizabeth Taylor, Judge Judy, Diane von Furstenberg, Pink, Jenna Bush Hager, Sarah Snook, Kristen Bell, Rita Ora and Britney Spears.

Anastasiya Pochotna, a dating expert at the dating app Flirtini suggests a modern take on this tradition.

“It’s 2024  — Anyone can get down on one knee whenever they please, but happy couples can still use the occasion to have some fun. This is the day you let your female companion take the lead and plan the date of her dreams. She gets to eat and do what she wants. Likewise, for same-sex couples, it’s the perfect opportunity to plan your dream date together and celebrate that the world is far less stuck in its ways than it once was.”

I recommend some weird nun role play, but you do you, folks.

2. High price of rejection

The custom of the reverse proposal caught on and in 1288, Scottish law granted women the right to propose during Leap Years. If a man rejected a woman’s marriage proposal on February 29, he had to pay her a pound for pain and suffering. In Denmark, the price for ‘no’ is twelve pairs of gloves to cover the unwed ring finger of the dejected damsel throughout the year ahead. In Finland, if a bachelor refuses a proposal on February 29th he owes the woman enough fabric to fashion a skirt.

3. Red for luck

Scottish superstition holds that a Leap Day romance will only prove successful if the bachelorette in question rocks a red petticoat. While petticoats have (tragically) gone the way of pocket watches and monocles in recent years, the tradition can still be honored by wearing red underwear or penguin feeding your partner red wine.

4. A dish for death prevention

In Taiwan, superstition states that parents are more likely to pass away during a Leap Year. To combat early expiration, daughters would traditionally return home on or around Leap Day to prepare pig trotter noodles for their parents. The dish is believed to support health, wealth, and survival. Noodles for salvation, can dig, dig in. See this recipe for inspiration

5. Fertile whales

Apropos of Leap Day falling in the watery heart of Pisces season and based on the belief that whales only give birth during Leap Years, Italians in the Province of Reggio Emilia, refer to the year as “l’ann d’ la baleina” or “the whale’s year.” Anastasiya Pochotna, a dating expert at the dating app Flirtini recommends honoring this tradition and the spirit of fertility by spending Leap Day on, or by, the sea. Alternatively, for the lovelorn or landlocked, a marathon of the “Free Willy” franchise or a somber screening of “Black Fish” might suffice.

Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. She is also an accomplished writer who has profiled a variety of artists and performers, as well as extensively chronicled her experiences while traveling. Among the many intriguing topics she has tackled are cemetery etiquette, her love for dive bars, Cuban Airbnbs, a “girls guide” to strip clubs and the “weirdest” foods available abroad.