We are at the fag end of the year 2019. In a few days, we will welcome the New year 2020 and extend New Year wishes to one and all. The New Year resolutions will be written and read out over and over again and then forgotten in a matter of moments. And yes, the old man will appear, only to be burnt at the stroke of midnight, heralding the beginning of the New Year. Incidentally this year 2020 is a leap year, meaning it has 366 days and is divisible by 4. Normally every year has 365 days but every four years, a leap year occurs to synchronize the calendar year with the solar year or the length of time it takes for the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun i.e 365 and a quarter (¼ ) days. In other words a century year cannot be a leap year, unless it is divisible by 400. A leap day on February 29th, is an extra, or intercalary day and is added to the shortest month of the year – February. No wonder then, that a person born on 29th February gets a chance to celebrate his / her birthday only once in 4 years. Also many people, especially the elderly ones have a lot of superstitious beliefs about the leap year. Events taking place in a leap year are viewed suspiciously, baby born in a leap year, wedding being solemnized in a leap year, are supposed to have bad luck and utmost care is taken to stay away from leap year and avoid any event that matters. How does the present day generation react to this belief? I guess the present day folks believe that this is the old generation view, with no real substance to back it up. Whether it’s a leap year or not, whatever has to happen will definitely happen because everything is in God’s hands and it is only HE who decides. All our actions and reactions are according to God’s plan and He is our loving father who will not want anything bad to happen to us.
We need to educate those people who still believe in these superstitious beliefs. Let us move ahead with the times and not lean backwards.
As the New Year beckons us, here’s wishing you all, PEACE, LOVE and SUCCESS all the year through. May this year bring each one of you much joy and fun and hope that this year will be the best year of your life, with all your dreams coming true and all hopes getting fulfilled.
Let the last year’s words belong to last year’s language and as we receive the first blank page of a 366 page book, called 2020, let us ensure that every dot and every- writing on this page is as per God’s plan for us.
Wishing you a charming and lucky New Year 2020.
Until we meet again
Felix Dias
(Editor)