vuosineljänneksinä

Vuosineljänneksinä refer to individuals born around the midpoint of a leap year, when February 29th falls. People born during these years share a unique characteristic in their birthdate.

According to Finnish and some Estonian age reckoning traditions, individuals born during leap years are considered to have aged one year more than their chronological age. For example, a person born in 1960, a leap year, would be considered to be one year older than a person born in 1961.

This tradition is an archaic custom based on the old European calendar system, which did not consider leap years. This means that during non-leap years, individuals born during leap years would have to wait an extra year to reach the common age. In practice, this has no real-world impact on daily life.

The people born during leap years are known by the term "vuosineljänneksinen." The name "vuosineljänneksinen" literally translates to "year-twelveth" in Finnish, highlighting the unique characteristic of people born during the 29th of February.

In some localities, local records may show the age of individuals born during leap years as being one year more than their actual age. However, this system is no longer in practice today, and both personal and official records of ages held on the Gregorian calendar, which is widely used across the world.

As the impact of being considered an extra year older has diminished in modern times, the cultural significance of vuosineljänneksinä has largely become a reminiscence of a bygone era. Their age is today considered accurate and innocent of errors, eliminating the nuance years ago associated with differing county reckoning ages.