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| | "Leap Year" by Edward Willett |
 | | The Julian calendar set the start of the new year as January 1; before that, it was in March, which made September, October, November and December the seventh, eighth, ninth, and 10th months--hence their names. |
 | | After 1600 years, that discrepancy had caused the Julian calendar to drift almost two weeks out of phase, so that religious festivals were again starting to slip into the wrong seasons, especially Easter, whose timing is connected to the Jewish lunar calendar. |
 | | Not having a leap year in most years ending in 00 slightly shortens most centuries, correcting for the extra time added by ordinary leap years, but it shortens them a bit too much; having a leap year in years divisible by 400 corrects for that over-correction. |
| www.edwardwillett.com /Columns/leapyear.htm (779 words) |
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