February 29 takes approximately 6 hours longer than 365 whole days. A leap day compensates for this lag, realigning the calendar with the Earth's position in the Solar System; otherwise, seasons would occur later than intended in the calendar year. The Julian calendar used in Christendom until the 16th century added a leap day every four years; but this rule adds too many days (roughly 3 every 400 years), making the equinoxes and solstices shift gradually to earlier dates. By the 16th century the vernal equinox had drifted to March 11, and the Gregorian calendar was introduced both to shift it back
Bissextus ecclesiastical calendars, the intercalary day is added for convenience at the end of the month of February, as February 29, and years in which February has twenty-nine days are called "bissextile," or leap years. Bissextus Bissext, or bissextus (Lat. "bis", twice; "sextus", sixth) is the day which is added to the Gregorian calendar every fourth year (except those evenly divisible by 100, unless they are divisible by 400) to compensate for the six-hour difference in length between the common 365-day year and the actual length of the solar year. Originally, the day was inserted after the 24th of February, i.e.