2020 is a leap year. That means we add an extra day in February. So, this Saturday is February 29. Sunday is March 1. So, have you ever wondered why we do this?

Well, our "year" is the period of time it takes for the Earth to complete its revolution around the sun. But, the year is not exactly 365 days. It is 365.2422 days. So, to account for the extra "almost quarter day" each year, an extra day is added to the calendar. February makes the most sense, since it normally only has 28 days. So, every four years we have a February 29 or "leap day." But, you may not know that this doesn't happen EVERY 4 years. Nope!

We actually skip the leap day every 100 years unless the year is divisible by 400. So, 2100 will NOT have a leap day but 2000 did. 2000 is divisible by 400. So, why do we do this? Well, since the Earth's revolution isn't exactly an extra quarter day, we need to account for that discrepancy every so often as well. So, the "Century Rule" comes into play.

So, even with all of this, you still might be wondering why do we do this? Well, this is all to keep the seasons in line. If we didn't add the day, we would shift our seasons by a week every 28 years. That means in the average person's lifetime, the seasons would have shifted almost a month on the calendar.

Amazingly, this idea of the leap day comes from a long time ago. Julius Caeser came up with it. But, it was in the 1500s, when Pope Gregory made the subtle correction to keep things in line.

Over the years, there have been other interesting plans set up to account for the extra quarter day. Some involved changing the whole calendar, others involve changing the calendar and then adding an extra week at the end. And there have been ideas floated around to have 13 months of 28 days.

Personally, leaving things as is makes the most sense, since we are all used to it anyway. Plus, you can always use the extra day this year, thinking about it.