Tag archives for Calendar
Posted by Happy April Fools’ Day! Well … not quite yet. This Sunday is the first day of April, which traditionally is the day when people play pranks on each other. No one is exactly sure how April 1 became the day to play tricks on people. One theory says that when the calendar year was changed so the year began at the beginning of January instead of April, those who were slow to start using the new calendar were called “April fools.”
Are you planning to pull a prank this year? What was your best prank ever? Leave a comment and tell us!
Read more about the history of April Fools’ Day on National Geographic News.
Photograph by Old Visuals / Alamy
Today is February 29, which means that 2012 is a leap year. Every four years, February gains an extra day. Why do we have leap years? The Earth orbits the sun once every year, but it takes a little longer than 365 days–the trip actually takes 365.242 days. To keep the calendar from drifting out of sync, an extra day is added to the calendar every fourth year. The next leap year will be in 2016.
Read more about leap years on National Geographic News.
Read what kids do when their birthday is on February 29 on the Washington Post.
