This year is a leap year, which means there are 366 days instead of the usual 365 days in a year. Every four years, like today, February 29, is an extra day that is added in order to keep the calendar working properly. If you were not born on a leap day you may not have looked into what a leap year even is. 

Many people do not pay much attention to why we have the leap year or how it even came about, so here are a few fast facts about a leap year:

1. An extra day is needed every four years in order for the calendar to properly sync with the solar year. 
2. A solar year is how long it takes the Earth to orbit around the sun, which is a little longer than a year. By a little bit longer, a solar year is about 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds. 
3. Without a leap day, over the course of a century the difference between the solar and calendar year would be about 25 days. Imagine summer not beginning until July!
4. Egyptians were the first to come up with added the intercalary or leap day! Romans later adopted that solution for their calendar and were the first to designate February 29 as the leap day.
5. If you were born on the leap day you get the advantage of celebrating your birthday annually on either February 28 or March 1!
6. There is an old Irish legend that St. Brigid made a deal with St. Patrick to allow women to propose to men, but only on the leap day. It has been believed that it was introduced to balance the roles of men and women, just like how the leap day balances the calendar.
7. In Scotland, it was once considered unlucky to be born on a leap day.
8. To the Greeks, it is considered unlucky for couples to marry during a leap year, and even more unlucky to marry on Leap Day.