It’s very rare to come up on a phenomenon in a span of a month, but February has always proven itself to be special. However, this February is even more unusual; February 2nd didn’t only mark the emergence of the groundhogs and a victorious win for the Kansas City Chiefs, but also a very out-of-the-ordinary occurrence.

02/02/2020 was the first palindrome to show up in 909 years and will be the only one to occur this century. A palindrome is a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backward as forward, according to Google’s Dictionary. Common palindromes include civic, kayak, or madam.

909 years ago, on 11/11/1111, the previous palindrome was experienced. The next one (after 2020) will happen in 101 years, on 12/12/2121, and after that 03/03/3030.

On the other hand, the most common “phenomenon” the month of February is known for is Leap Year! Every four years, an extra day is added to the calendar, amounting to a total of 366 days (weird, I know?). This extra day is, of course, February 29th.

The history of Leap Year is very long, but to shorten it in a few words: it was the work of one of the greatest Roman emperors, Julius Caesar.

Over 2,000 years ago, Caesar added days to random months of the year so that Roman holidays would fall around the same season (their calendar at the time consisted of 355 days). Every four years he added February 29th to the list. Around 1582, Pope Gregory XIII also added the lesser-known leap year rule: every year divisible by the number four would count as a leap year (such as 1600 and 2000).

February will continue to be one of the most interesting months of the year with its Leap Years, Super Bowls, Groundhog Days, and Valentine’s! So far, February 2020 is turning out to be quite the stunner!

Sources used:

https://www.winknews.com/2020/02/02/today-is-02-02-2020-the-first-palindrome-day-in-909-years/

https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-leap-year-1989846