Historically there were a few days between the end of one year, and the beginning of the next that people took to be days out of the normal flow, a chance to do the things you didn’t have time to do, or weren’t allowed to do the rest of the year. This is the origin of Carnival, and Mardi Gras and related ceremonies. (this is according to Bakhtin, I’m not wearing my calendar geek hat when I say this, so be warned)

We no longer have the wonderful concept of a few days each year out of time, but once, every four years we do get a leap day. Don’t waste it. – Happy Leap Day – 2004/02/29

I totally wasted it today. We had been planning a dystopian leap year party. I wrangled databases instead.