szöknap

A szöknap, meaning "leap day" in Hungarian, refers to the extra day added to the month of February in a leap year. This practice is necessary to keep our calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year, the time it takes for the Earth to complete one orbit around the Sun. The Earth's orbit is approximately 365.2422 days long, which is slightly more than the 365 days in a standard Gregorian calendar year.

Without the addition of a leap day, this discrepancy would accumulate over time, causing the seasons to gradually drift. For example, after several centuries, summer months would begin to occur in what we currently consider winter. The concept of a leap year has ancient origins, with the Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE, being one of the first to systematically incorporate this adjustment.

The modern rule for determining a leap year is based on the Gregorian calendar, established in 1582. A year is a leap year if it is divisible by four. However, there are exceptions to this rule: years divisible by 100 are not leap years, unless they are also divisible by 400. Therefore, the year 2000 was a leap year because it is divisible by 400, but the year 1900 was not. The next leap day will occur on February 29, 2024.