HOW cool would it be if you were born on Feb 29? You could be 80 and still tell everyone you’ve only celebrated 20 birthdays.
And there are some well-known people who could have employed that neat trick. They include the dawg himself Randy Jackson (of American Idol fame), former Indian prime minister Morarji Desai, rapper Ja Rule, American singer Dinah Shore, and American serial killer Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron played her in Monster).
In fact, to celebrate the leap year and leap year babies, the town of Anthony, Texas, organises a leap year festival. It proudly calls itself the leap year capital of the world and leap year “babies”, or leaplings, around the world come to its parade.
Nothing really significant in history has happened on Feb 29, although the people of Haiti might see it differently. It was four years ago to the day that power-hungry President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned.
There is also a lot of superstition and interesting tales that abound about leap years and the date itself. For instance, in Greece, people believe it is bad luck to get married in a leap year. On the other hand, in Ireland, women can propose to a man.
According to a tale dating back to fifth century Ireland, St Brigid complained to St Patrick that women had to wait too long for men to propose marriage, and so he decided that in a leap year, women could take the initiative. However, if some sources are to be believed, Brigid was still a girl when Patrick died, which would make her a very precocious child!
Then there’s talk of a Scottish law enacted in 1288 – although unsubstantiated – by the unmarried and supposedly five-year-old Queen Margaret that allowed women the right to corner a man with a proposal. Men who refused would have to pay a fine in the form of a kiss, a silk dress or a pair of gloves. Which would you have preferred?
There’s a similar custom in the United States that was born from the famous comic strip L’il Abner by American cartoonist Al Capp. In his fictional town of Dogpatch, there was a character called Sadie Hawkins, who couldn’t attract a husband because she was ugly. Her father then set up a day each year when women could literally chase after the bachelors in town in a race. The unlucky sod who is caught would have to marry the women who nabs him. While the event was held in November in the comic strip, it now seems to be associated with Feb 29.
Superstitious Chinese believe that more accidents and mishaps occur during the leap month in the lunar calendar. They also think that children born in that month are harder to bring up. Nor are they keen to start a business or get married then.
For some Indians, no auspicious occasion should be held during a leap day or month. While some go as far as to say that this should not occur during the whole leap year, others feel it is only every third leap year.
Thoroughly confused? Well, we end with another celebrity leapling. According to a Time magazine article, Superman’s birthday is on Feb 29. No wonder he never ages.
quite an interesting article.. just filling my sien-ness studying in the library since 5pm. Renal mid terms tmrw. so far so good.. supposedly went to dissection today with the intentions of revising more of d kidneys from DrM, unfortunately he's not there, but a 5th Med Chinese guy whos not sure of his facts half the time.. watever! weird demonstrators - one stutters, the other 'slobbers'..
oh well, back to renal. or maybe i should go propose ....
