Leap Day: An Extra Day to Do Something Extra

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Leap Forward

WASHINGTON - Today, February 29th, is called Leap Day, which gives us an extra day to do something extra.

Leap Day occurs only every four years during a leap year, which happens to keep the calendar year synchronized with the seasonal year. If there was not a Leap Day, our calendars would get out of synchronization with our seasons or, in other words, float. Leap Days allow for consistency.

Julius Caesar gets credit for the first leap day in 46 AD. Later in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII instituted the Gregorian calendar and the first leap day of the modern calendar was born in 1584.

One notable person born on Leap Day in 1908 was Dee Brown, who wrote "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," which helped to bring attention two generations ago to the violence perpetrated against American Indians - perhaps better than most books ever.

The American Indian College Fund suggests, we leap forward for progress.

The following is from the American Indian College Fund blog:

February 29 is leap year. I'd like to recognize the significant leaps forward that the Indian community has made on its behalf in the past 40 years upon the founding of the first tribal college, which for the first time put American Indians in charge of their own education.

This year, on leap year, I urge all American Indians to commit to making another leap forward for progress. My personal goal is for all American Indians who want an education and a better future to commit to achieving that goal; and for the American Indian College Fund and other organizations to see to it that everyone who wants an education can attain it. As more people pursue, and get, an education, we will see Indian country transformed, in leaps and bounds.

posted February 29, 2012 1:45 pm est