Durban resident shares the joys of being a leapling
Rekha Singh was born on February 29, a unique and special day that occurs once every four years.
A DAUGHTER is 20 and her mother is 12 . . . confused? Let’s do the maths.
Queensburgh resident Rekha Singh was born on February 29 on a leap year which occurs once every four years.
For Singh, being a leap-year baby is exciting.
“The chances of being born on a leap year are pretty slim. One in 1 461 – that is pretty special for me to be born on this mysterious and unique day,” she said.
During a non-leap year, ‘leaplings’ or ‘leapers’, as they are known, celebrate their birthday on February 28 or March 1.
“I do both,” said Singh with a smile.
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She explained that most of her family and friends are not sure when to wish her a Happy Birthday as some wish her on February 28, some on March 1 and others on both days.
A non-leap year brings a labyrinth of confusion which Singh said is the sweetest part of being born on a leap year.
“The most special people in my life wish me on March 1 – their reasoning is that I didn’t exist on 28 Feb.”
Singh said she never feels that she misses out on a birthday.
“But when it’s a leap year, wow, the love of my life goes all out from hot air ballooning to helicopter-ride picnics on mountains to singing You’re Still the One by Shania Twain. The song holds a deep meaning for both of us.”
When asked about her actual age, Singh beamed and said, “This is the fun part. I can claim my actual age or my actual age divided by four. I am 12 this leap year – you do the maths,” she said.
Growing up, she said it was never confusing to understand when her birthday was as her parents made sure it was special every year.
“Also, I was never teased for having my birthday once every four years. People are amazed when you mention being born on a leap year. Most of them always say they have never met someone born on a leap year.”
By sharing her story, Singh said she wants to teach people about leap years, and below, Singh sheds more insight on this special year.
What is a leap year?
A leap year has one extra day added to it due to the Earth’s orbit around the sun, which takes 365.2422 days, which is slightly more than the standard calendar year of 365 days. This means that a solar year (Earth’s one revolution of 365.2422 days around the sun) is not aligned to our calendar year of 365 days – a difference of 0.2422 days – which may seem small, but without a leap year, the seasons would move out of phase with our calendar. The equinoxes and solstices would change days and months . . . Winter in December?
Where does it originate?
This phenomenon of the leap year originated in 46 BC by Julius Caesar. His calendar, the Julian Calendar, had 365¼ days a year, which came quite close to approximating the solar calendar of 365.2422 years. But since the Julian Calendar was off by 0.0078 days (11 minutes and 4 seconds), our calendar was off by about 10 too many days, so it needed to be revised. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII wiped out 10 days from the calendar to correct the accumulation of the extra 10 days from the Julian Calendar. The calendar jumped directly from October 4 to October 15.
“Quite bizarre, right?” said Singh.
Understanding the maths of a leap year
All years are not leap years. Here are the criteria that must be met for a year to be a leap year. Every year that is divisible by four is a leap year with the exception of a year that is divisible by 100. But centurial years are leap years if they are divisible by 400. For example: The centurial year, 1700, is not a leap year but the centurial year, 2000, is.
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