More leap year fun facts

While working on my leap year story that ran today, I found some fun facts I didn't have room to include in the story. So, here you go:

The Egyptians were said to have first come up with the idea of adding a leap day once every four years to keep the calendar in sync with the solar year, according to Leap Year 101 on infoplease. The Romans later adopted the solution for their calendar and became the first to designate Feb. 29 as leap day.

Leap year is traditionally seen as a time when women can propose marriage. Yes, I know they can any day of the year, but this used to be frowned upon, except on Feb. 29. It was believed that this tradition started in Ireland after St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait to long for men to propose, according to About.com.

In America, some people have referred to this date as Sadie Hawkins Day. Sadie Hawkins was a female character in the Al Capp cartoon strip Li'l Abner.

However, there is a Greek superstition that says couples have bad luck if they marry during a leap year. Supposedly, one in every five engaged couples in Greece avoid planning their wedding during a leap year.