February 29, 2016 we leap ahead!!

February 29, 2016 is Leap Day. This extra day added to the Gregorian Calendar make the year 366 days long instead of the usual 365, making that year a Leap Year.

It takes the earth approximately 365.242199 days (a tropical year) to circle once around the Sun. To keep our calendar in alignment with the sun, a day is added every four years in years that are divisible by four, thus giving us February 29. If we didn’t add a day we would lose almost six hours a year on our calendar and that would add up to 24 days in 100 years. FYI!! There is also the lesser known Leap Second.

Ever since Julius Ceasar introduced Leap Day over 2000 years ago, February 29 has become a day of traditions and superstitions. According to an old Irish legend, on Leap Day, also known as Bachelor's Day, women are allowed to propose to men. In some places a man was expected to pay a penalty of a gown or money. If you were from the upper crust of European society, he had to buy her 12 pairs of gloves if he refused her proposal. In some countries it is considered unlucky to be born or to marry on February 29.

There was even a plot afoot at one time to add February 30 to the calendar. But that plan fell through. It didn't have a leg to stand on!

If you were born on February 29 you are called a Leapling. And yes you still get to celebrate a birthday every year whether it is February 28, 29 or March 1. Your preference. Sorry you don't get to be 10 while your friends turn 40. However, many countries have laws defining which date a person born on February 29 comes of age in legal terms.

So HAPPY LEAP YEAR! And to all the Leaplings out there.  Dinah Shore, Usher, Henri Richard, Dennis Farina, Antonio Sabato Jr., Tony Robbins, Jimmy Dorsey, and YOU.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!   See you in 2020!!!





 

February is African Heritage Month

In 1926 Negro History week was established. An idea conceived by African-American Carter G. Woodson, to set aside a time devoted to African -Americans and African-American history. He chose a week in February because that month contained the birthdates of two people credited with bringing and end to American slavery:  black abolitionist,  Frederick Douglass and American President, Abraham Lincoln. Over time the celebration expanded and became known as Black History Month.

In 1950, Toronto railroad porters were the first to celebrate the idea in Canada. the porters had learned of this celebration in their travels in the United States. It was not until the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS) petitioned the city of Toronto  to have February proclaimed Black History Month by 1979, that the celebration started to trickle to other communities. The OBHS then  successfully lobbied the federal government to have February declared as Black History Month and  in 1995, after a motion by politician Jean Augustine, representing the riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore in Ontario, Canada's House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month. In 2008, a motion by Nova Scotia Senator Donald Oliver to have the Senate officially recognize Black History Month, was unanimously approved. In December 2014 the United Nations declared the next ten years to be the Decade for People of African Descent with the theme: Justice, recognition and development.

  The 2016 theme for African Heritage Month  in Canada is  The Black Battalion: Legacy of Commitment - They Fought to Fight, to honour the 100th anniversary of the No. 2 Construction Battalion.  The members of the Black Battalion had to fight to fight. Raised in 1916 in Nova Scotia, they were trailblazers in their struggle to break the colour barrier and  fight for freedom in the Great War. Because of their unwavering desire they paved the way for African Nova Scotians  to serve in the armed forces in the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Afghan War and peacekeeping in the Sinai, Cyprus, the Congo and many other conflict zones.


The No. 2 Construction battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force,
 was the first and only Black battalion on Canadian military history.

To celebrate Black History Month, Annapolis Valley Regional Library has compiled this booklist.

Help make a difference through Food for Fines!!

The FEED NOVA SCOTIA website tells us that 19,722 people received food from a food bank in Nova Scotia in March 2015 – 31% were children.  One-quarter of those households receive the majority of their income from a disability or old-age pension.

During the month of February 2016, you can combine a visit to the library with a good deed for those who use food banks in your area.    

The Annapolis Valley Regional Library is once again offering a Food for Fines initiative from February 1-29.  Just give us a non-perishable item for the local food bank and we’ll forgive up to $3.00 in fines.  And the really good news is that there is no limit on the number of fines which can be forgiven!   Do you owe $8.50?  Three food items will take care of that.  Please note that Food For Fines applies to fines only, not other fees like lost books or printing costs. 

 (Please check expiry dates on items since we don’t want to pass unsafe goods on to the food bank.)     

 Wondering what types of items food banks especially need?

 - canned fruit and veggies, soups and stews
- peanut butter
- pasta
- canned sandwich meats
- healthy school snacks (like fruit cups)
- laundry and dish detergents, soap

 So, if you have library fines to pay off, or even if you don’t, stop by the library with a food bank item or two during February.  Through Food for Fines you can help make a difference for hungry families in your area.