Today is February 29th, which means that it is a Leap Year. It only happens one day every four years, so what is the big deal about it really? Well, it adds in an extra day to the shortest month of the year, and according to legend, it is also the day that women can propose to a man.
Way back in the day (5th Century) in Ireland, St. Bridget was complaining to St. Patrick about how unfair the inequalities of women were. She didn’t feel that it was right to have to wait around for the man to propose, and thought that women should be able to ask for marriage proposals of their men as well. Things weren’t quite equal (by any means) in this era, so St. Patrick only gave in a little bit. He said that on February 29th, a woman could indeed propose to her man.
It wasn’t until 1288 that Scotland passed the law allowing women to do the asking on the Leap Year Day. Another fun fact about this law is that if a man declined a woman’s proposal, he could face a fine for rejecting the woman!
Do you think this is something that we should do nowadays, or do you think it is okay to propose to a many anytime of the year now? I’m thinking it is okay anytime, but this would make for a more memorable day, wouldn’t it?
3 comments:
What a fun piece of history! I had no idea.
I found it to be pretty cool too :) If I lived back then I would have gone for it lol
Cool history info!
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