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FEBRUARY 29, 2016:

What happens on a Leap Day?


 


On February 29, women can propose to their boyfriends.

Of course, women can actually propose to their significant others any day of the year, but the above is one of the most popular beliefs attached to the "extra day" that shows up on the calendar every fourth year.

And if the poor lady gets rejected, so the belief goes, the man owes her a skirt, a kiss, a silk gown, or 12 pairs of gloves—depending on which country the proposal happened. Girls, remember to wear a red petticoat, too!

There's even a movie (aptly titled "Leap Year") starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode that revolves around this tradition.

A leap year happens every four years and is observed to account for the extra six hours it takes for the earth to make an orbit. Every four years, an accumulated 24 hours is observed as a "leap day."

Women proposing to men tops GMA News' "Ang Pinaka" list of Leap Year beliefs, but out of the 10 they listed, "you're allowed to murder one person" has to be the strangest.

 

 

This belief is of course untrue. Murder will always be wrong, even if you do it on a leap day.

Instead of plotting someone's demise, people are encouraged to observe Rare Disease Day on February 29. Although it may seem more beneficial to talk about rare diseases more than once every four years, a leap day is the perfect symbol for raising awareness of lesser-known illnesses.

Other Leap Day beliefs? Frogs should leap away if they don't want to be dinner, as in the UK, some might feel it would be apt to eat the leaping amphibians on a leap day.

Others believe that having a child or getting married on a leap year or on a leap day turns good fortune away. There's little basis for these superstitions—in fact, if you're born on the 29th, sometimes you even get extra treats. In the US, Pizza Hut is giving away free personal pizzas to people born on this day.

Meanwhile, companies like US firm Zappos believe that the extra day should be a holiday for everyone.

In the Philippines, we get P29 peso ice creams from Dairy Queen on February 29. Not a bad deal at all. — Aya Tantiangco/BM, GMA News

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