Good news! 2012 is a leap year, and that means (according to tradition, anyway) that on February 29th, women all over the world can propose to their men. We did a little digging through history and managed to find these proposal cards from the early 1900s!
According to Irish legend, this all started with St. Brigid, who complained to St. Patrick that Irish women were having to wait too long for their men to pop the question. St. Patrick agreed to bend the rules (just once every 4 years) – and allowed women to propose to their men on February 29th. But that’s the legend.
In actual fact, hundreds of years ago leap days were not recognised in law instead, they were leapt over. As a result, February 29th had no legal status, and formal traditions like women not being allowed to propose to men did not apply for the day. So, women who were fed up of waiting took matters into their own hands!
In 1288, a Scottish law supposedly required any man who refused a woman’s proposal to pay a fine anything from a kiss, to gloves, to a silk dress!
Of course, nowadays women can and do propose a lot!
What about you… would/did you propose to your partner? Is February 29th an outdated sexist tradition or is it just a bit of fun?
