LEAP YEAR

Because the Earth takes 365 1/4 days to complete one circuit around the Sun, an adjustment must be made periodically to make up for the accumulating quarter days. This has been done in the Gregorian calendar by adding a Leap Day, February 29th , every four years. While this works, it adds to the variations in the length of months. Additionally, it contributes to the annual rotation of weekdays through the calendar year. The New Earth Calendar has a similar system, yet because it adds an extra week every fifth year, the calendar dates don’t change to a different weekday in the following year.

LEAP WEEK

Rather than add a day periodically as with the Gregorian calendar, The New Earth Calendar adds a leap week each fifth year. Specifically, add one week after December (December 29-35) in each year evenly divisible by 5 or 400, but not in other years divisible by 40. To remember this, if the year ends in 5 or 0, it’s a Leap Year except for a couple times in a lifetime. This is easy to remember, but if a person were asked if 1982 was a Leap Year under the Gregorian calendar, most would probably not be able to give a quick answer.