Delft Blue calendar. Credits: Rijksmuseum (public domain)
A schrikkeljaar is a leap year. Before 1582, the entire region that is now the Netherlands used the Julian calendar, in which every fourth year is a leap year. Between 1582 and 1700, the different provinces switched to the Gregorian calendar, in which centurial years are not leap years except when they are divisible by 400. This corrected the length of the year by 0.002% compared to the Julian calendar. Read more about the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in a tale of two calendars.
About Yvette Hoitink
