leap day

While some women observed the centuries-old tradition of proposing to their men on Leap Day, an elderly couple used the occasion to tie the knot — and it seems to have landed them in the record books.

Here’s something for you salaried employees to think about: If you’re working today, one could argue that you are doing so for free. Perhaps that is why Oaklandish, an apparel company based in Oakland, is closed for leap day. Not only that, but on their sign announcing their decision, they call into question February 29th’s very existence.

We have Feb. 29th — otherwise known as Leap Day — every four years to make up for the fact that the Earth doesn’t circle the sun in exactly 365 days. Without that occasional extra day thrown in, our entire calendar and its corresponding seasons would eventually be way off and we’d be celebrating Christmas during bikini weather. But it isn’t just a scientific thing. There’s a lot of lore behind it,

According to an old Irish legend, St. Patrick and St. Bridget struck a deal in which women would be permitted to propose to men every four years on Leap Day. That tradition continues on YouTube.