The calendar blip has led to some unusual rituals in past decades.

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A calendar is a site of order. What happens when that order gets disrupted?

First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic:

A Quadrennial Blip

February 29 is a blip in the normal flow of time. The date may not appear on dropdown menus or at the DMV; it may scramble pay stubs or confound bartenders checking IDs. It has, over the years, inspired creativity and transgression. And folklore has it that the leap year—and particularly Leap Day—was once the only time when women had social permission to propose marriage to men. The tradition, which some contend has roots in fifth-century Ireland, enabled women (and men) to “try on this other gender, with the assurance that the next day everything’s put back in order,” Katherine Parkin, a historian at Monmouth University, told me.

Although on its face the concept promotes equality, it’s actually a case of “false empowerment,” Parkin argues. The tradition, she said, was “centered on introducing this........

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