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
Chinese calendar solstices, is divided into 24 solar terms. Different versions of the traditional calendar might have different average solar-year lengths. One solar year of the 1st century BC Tàichū calendar is (365.25016) days. A solar year of the 13th-century Shòushí calendar is (365.2425) days, identical to the Gregorian calendar. The additional .00766 day from the Tàichū calendar leads to a one-day shift every 130.5 years. Pairs of solar terms are climate terms, or solar months. The first solar term is "pre-climate" (), and the second is "mid-climate" (). There are generally 11 or 12 complete months, plus two incomplete months around