Once every 4 years, in a leap year, February 29 happens on earth. This date had to be introduced due to the presence of contradictions between the earthly calendar and the astronomical one. People born on this day usually celebrate it on February 28 or March 1. However, some of those born on this unusual day celebrate it exclusively on February 29th. It turns out that the holiday happens only once every 4 years. Therefore, people born on February 29 try to spend it in a very original way.
The reason for the "extra" day in the year, statistics
The exact astronomical year is 365, 2425 days. Based on this, it follows that the numbers after the decimal point for 4 years add up almost in one day. This circumstance requires the introduction of a separate day once every 4 years. Otherwise, the calendar is in conflict withseasons.
Are there people born on February 29th? Statistics assures that there are enough of them, they used the chance of being born on this day as 1/1461. Moreover, there are currently about 5 million people on earth who celebrate their birthday exclusively on this date.
Julian calendar
In 46 B. C. e. Roman emperor Julius Caesar, following the advice of local astronomers, reformed the calendar, since then it has had about 500 leap years. The Julian calendar (named after the initiator of the reform) was adopted for widespread use. It was an attempt to harmonize the relationship between astronomical and terrestrial time. However, it was not successful.
An error in the reckoning was noticed quite late, when the discrepancies reached almost 10 days.
Gregorian calendar
So in the 16th century, due to the above defect in the Julian calendar, Easter had to be celebrated in winter. This iconic religious holiday was shifted to the winter season by 15 days. The spring equinox fell on March 11.
To eliminate this problem in 1582, under the watchful eye of Pope Gregory XIII, a new, modern calendar was adopted. According to him, the count of days was moved forward. The vernal equinox returned again to March 21.
In the Gregorian calendar, which was named after Gregory XIII, a leap year was one whose number of days can be divided by 4 without a remainder (with the exception of the so-called zeroyears).
On the territory of Russia, the Gregorian calendar was put into effect only in January 1918, in accordance with the order of the Council of People's Deputies. However, the ROC still builds its activities according to the old style (Julian calendar). For the Russian Orthodox Church, the transition to the Gregorian calendar would cause violations in the observance of church canons, including non-compliance with the categorical ban on celebrating Easter before the Jewish one or on the same day as the Jews.
Signs, superstitions
A lot of superstitions, legends, omens are connected with the day of February 29 in the world. On this day, according to the Orthodox calendar, Saint Kasyan celebrates his name day. Among the Slavic peoples, this name did not become widespread due to the fact that Kasyanov's day (February 29) was considered dangerous, unlucky. So, in Bulgaria they believed that Kasyan was stolen by demons in infancy. This circumstance led to his evil and envious nature.
Until recently, some nationalities believed that people born on February 29 have magical abilities, know how to prophesy, as a result of which they were forced into seclusion, but also protected.
Rare Disease Day in European countries is celebrated on this day.
And at the present time there are still many people who are convinced that this is a dangerous date when you can expect trouble, that if a person is born on February 29, then nothing good will happen to him in life. A leap year is unfavorable.
John Cassian - St. Cassian
It is believed that the year when Kasyan celebrates his name day brings problems, losses, troubles.
According to another common legend among the Slavic peoples, on the way to paradise, Kasyan and Nikolai Ugodnik met with a peasant whose cart got stuck in the mud. The latter turned to them with a request for help. Kasyan refused the suffering man, he did not want to soil his robes. Nikolai Ugodnik, on the contrary, came to the rescue and, together with the peasant, they pulled the cart out of the mud. Upon their arrival in paradise, God, seeing the soiled clothes of Nikolai and clean Kasyan, punished the latter for ignoring the requests of ordinary people to deprive the name day.
According to Slavic mythology, Kasyan is in charge of guarding the entrance to hell. He has the right to rest from his worries once every 4 years, then his work is performed by 12 apostles.
In real life, Kasyan - John Cassian, a monk, was quite famous in the Orthodox world. He was a theologian, wrote works on the morality of Christians. For a righteous life and lofty thoughts, the church classified him as a saint.
The name day of the "evil Kasyan" among the Slavs was considered unsuccessful. There was a fairly widespread superstition that on this day the fact of meeting Kasyan on the way would not lead to anything good. You can lose your he alth, good luck. On this day, they tried not to show themselves from the house, they did not drive the cattle out to graze.
People born on February 29, how do they celebrate this day?
But in spite of everythingprejudice, indeed, for those who were born on this date, it is inconvenient. According to established traditions, they have the opportunity to celebrate once every 4 years. For them, the question remains what to do if a person was born on February 29.
The famous German Georg Lichtenberg came to their aid. For such persons, he wrote an essay that has become popular: "Born on February 29." It recommended following the worked out scheme for celebrating a birthday.
People born on February 29 before 6 am, on the advice of Lichtenberg, should celebrate their name day on February 28. Born at the end of the day, celebrate your birthday on March 1. Those who were born between 6 am and 12 pm are recommended to celebrate the holiday on the 28th day of the second month of the year for 2 years in a row, the 3rd year - March 1st. People born on February 29 between noon and 6 pm should celebrate the first year on the 28th, and the next two on March 1. Moreover, he assures everyone that February 29 will still come in three years.
