Once every 4 Years, today occurs.  Last year, today would have been March 1... but this year today is tomorrow.

The Earth orbits the moon every 365.25 days (actually: 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 16 seconds).  So, in order to create a truly annual calendar, an adjustment was required. 

But Why February 29?

As part of  Julian reform, the day following the Terminalia (February 23) was doubled, forming the "bis sextum"—literally 'double sixth." 

Since February 24 was 'the sixth day before the Kalends of March' using Roman inclusive counting (March 1 was the 'first day'). Although exceptions exist, the first day of the bis sextum (February 24) was usually regarded as the intercalated or "bissextile" day since the third century. 

February 29 came to be regarded as the leap day when the Roman system of numbering days was replaced by sequential numbering in the late Middle Ages.

If you followed that garble, good.  if not, it basically says "Romans had some weird social laws that carried over to more modern times."

Enjoy Leap Day Everyone!!!  Real Life is For March!

-Kevin Aherne

If you have been wondering why half of the people on the streets seem to have missed a spot in their daily hygienic rituals, you must not be Catholic. Today is Ash Wednesday, a significant day in the Holy Calender that marks the beginning of Lent.

Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent. Ashes were used in ancient times, according to the Bible, to express mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was the penitent's way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults. 

An ancient example of one expressing one's penitence is found in Job.  Job says to God: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. The other eye wandereth of its own accord. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Just prior to the New Testament period, the rebels fighting for Jewish independence, the Maccabees, prepared for battle using ashes: "That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes."

Ash Wednesday marks the start of a 43-day period which is an allusion to the separation of Jesus in the desert to fast and pray. During this time he was tempted. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, while not specifically instituted in the Bible text, the  period of repentance is also analogous to the 40 days during which Moses repented and fasted in response to the making of the Golden calf. In Victorian England, theatres refrained from presenting costumed shows on Ash Wednesday, so they provided other entertainments.

So, if you see an ashy pedestrian, know that they are likely a devout christian... or they made a series of questionable decisions yesterday for Mardi Gras.

-Kevin Aherne