The first post-pandemic leap year: esotericists warned about the dangers of an “unclean” February

The roots of the people’s fear of the year “with a trailer” in the form of an extra day in the last month of winter go back centuries: they have been afraid of it since the times of the Roman Empire. The Romans considered a month to which an extra day was “attached” to be “unclean”, a time of evil spirits. And the ancient Slavs called February 29, which appears in our calendar once every 4 years, the day of Kasyan the Leap-Envious Man.

There are only a few days left until the next leap February, and the previous one – February 2020 – so justified its bad reputation by bringing Covid to the world that today many Russians are refreshing their memories of their grandmother’s omens.

All peoples now living according to the Gregorian calendar, which is almost the whole world, have beliefs regarding the “extra” day of winter, and all of them are of a negative nature. Historians associate this with ancient times: Julius Caesar ordered to make every fourth year a leap year back in the 45th year BC, introducing the Julian calendar. True, it did not work out right away; Caesar, and after him his successor Augustus and other emperors, were angry, and the “jumping” calendar caused a lot of inconvenience to their subjects, since leap years with the specified interval already had a negative connotation in the popular consciousness. The Gregorian calendar, introduced to replace the Julian calendar in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, adopted not only the leap period of every second even year, but also the “bad reputation” of the “extended” last month of winter. The late Roman Empire (III-V centuries AD), during the heyday of which this happened, actively traded with many peoples, fought, captured and expanded, and along with goods and invaders, the Gregorian calendar came to new lands, and with it superstitions about the misfortunes that “a month and an extra day” bring.

Russian peasants, although Russia switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar only in 1918, by this time also already had their own complaints about leap February. According to the Orthodox calendar, February 29 is named after the Holy Great Martyr Kasyan, who was born on this day. And the Eastern Slavs were the first to call him Kasyan the Leap-King Envy – they say, this saint is offended that his name day is only once every 4 years. Therefore, acquiring special power on his rare birthday, he “squints with envy, mowing down all the good things.” The old Russian sayings cited in Dahl’s Monthly Word are also consonant with this: “No matter what Kasyan looks at, everything withers.” In Rus’, Kasyan the Leap-King was considered not only envious, but also vindictive, stingy and evil, and they did not expect anything good from him on his name day, they hid in their homes.

In recent history, 2016 and 2020 were leap years, 2024 has arrived, and the next one will be 2028. The degree to which a society is susceptible to superstitions as “behavioral patterns that can influence society” is studied by sociologists. And it was these specialists, far from esotericism, who were the first to report that after the pandemic, the “degree” of superstitions sharply increased throughout the planet: this was noted by both European and American scientists. Domestic sociologists are more restrained, but they also recognize the trend.

“People tend to demonize what they cannot influence,” says sociologist Olga Anufrieva. – And transfer responsibility for your powerlessness or failures to someone or something. In this sense, superstition is the most ancient “magic wand”, and 21st century technology has not rid humanity of it. Since this is psychological self-therapy, eliminating the uncomfortable feeling of guilt: it was not I who failed (didn’t pass, didn’t do it, etc.), but the leap year is to blame. By and large, getting rid of guilt is not a bad thing; it prevents you from moving on. The most dangerous thing here is to prepare yourself in advance for the fact that since it’s a leap year, everything will be bad. To believe that an extra day in the last month of winter can affect your efficiency and condition is simply ridiculous. And at all times, humanity has a good reason to continue to believe in “Kasyan’s atrocities” – from poor harvests to natural disasters, epidemics and economic crises. In leap years, a lot of disasters really happened – from the sinking of the Titanic to the tragedy in Beslan. But these are just coincidences, since misfortunes happened in other years, and in leap years there was something good, as in all the years of people’s existence on earth. This time, the reason for another outbreak of superstitions is the pandemic brought by the last leap year. To be fair, even the notorious Covid has an index of 19, not 20, since it was discovered in 2019, which was not a leap year.

The position of astrologers regarding February is closer to scientists than to esotericists: they are confident that the energy of specific dates depends on the location of the planets, and not on prejudices.

“This year, on February 29, there will be two noteworthy aspects in the sky,” notes astrologer Olga Grankina. – The first is the conjunction of Venus and Mars, which means that you need to be more careful in the sphere of feelings and avoid scandals, as well as spending. The fact is that Mars creates a background of impulsive desires – to spend or invest. And Venus connecting with him also gives such desires a personal touch: to quarrel with loved ones and spend money, invest them out of spite, and so on. Also on this day there is a conjunction of three planets at once – the Sun, Saturn and Mercury – in Pisces, which is good for real estate transactions, but can negatively affect studies, exams and generally limit mentally. On this day, even the most intelligent and broad-minded people’s thinking may turn towards conservatism, and usually savvy people may not even see a solution to a problem lying on the surface.

But the hereditary healer Grandma Ustinya, widely known among fans of “white village magic,” is confident that superstitions are nothing more than the wisdom of ancestors, passed on to descendants in this form, and ignoring this “inheritance” is very dangerous.

“Leap February, and especially its 29th, is a time of evil spirits,” says Grandma Ustinya. “Everyone who was born in leap years bears its stamp within themselves, but in some white has won, in others black, and some have been fighting good and evil within themselves all their lives. Therefore, it is better not to give birth to children in the year of Kasyanov, especially in February. But if it happens, name them in honor of the holy martyrs who fought against evil spirits – boys Cyprian or Theoktistos, girls Justins or Ustins, like me, this is the same name. The whole of February is a leap year, and especially on its last day, avoid “mortal” things, they drag you along with you at this time. Do not use what you inherited from the deceased, and do not buy any funeral paraphernalia – cemetery plots, monuments and other funeral paraphernalia. And in February, do not communicate with those who were born in Kasyanov’s year; even among the best of them, at this time, black takes precedence over white.