2.3. What day is the leap day?
Description
This article is from the Calendars FAQ, by Claus Tondering claus@tondering.dk with numerous contributions by others.
2.3. What day is the leap day?
It is 24 February!
Weird? Yes! The explanation is related to the Roman calendar and is
found in section 2.7.1.
From a numerical point of view, of course 29 February is the extra
day. But from the point of view of celebration of feast days, the
following correspondence between days in leap years and non-leap
years has traditionally been used:
Non-leap year Leap year
------------- ----------
22 February 22 February
23 February 23 February
24 February (extra day)
24 February 25 February
25 February 26 February
26 February 27 February
27 February 28 February
28 February 29 February
For example, the feast of St. Leander has been celebrated on 27
February in non-leap years and on 28 February in leap years.
Many countries are gradually changing the leap day from the 24th to
the 29th. This affects countries such as Sweden and Austria that
celebrate "name days" (i.e. each day is associated with a name).
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