Buy him an engagement watch.
Get down on one knee!
Declare your love and ask him,
“Will you marry me?”
So, Ladies? Did Valentine’s Day pass without your longtime love popping the question? Take heart! Thanks to St. Bridget nagging St. Patrick in the 5th century about women having to wait so long for a man to propose, you have one day every four years to do the man you love the biggest wedding favor of his life? Yes, indeed! Every February 29, you have the right–nay, the duty!–to ask the procrastinator you adore if you can make him the happiest man on earth. Check the calendar, girls. February 29th is eleven days away. Time to plan how to pin down that man!
St. Patrick–What a Guy!
OK. So it’s 2008, and evolved, confident women have been proposing to men whenever they felt like it. But there was a time when rules of courtship were fairly strict, and traditionally women were only allowed to ask the big question on that one day every four years. Before that, I guess women couldn’t even ask at all, which apparently led St. Bridget to bug St. Patrick enough that he eased the restriction. In what was clearly an outpouring of generosity on his part, women would now have 24 hours every four years to legally request the hand of her honey. The first documentation of this law dates back to 1288, when Scotland passed a law allowing women to propose to the man of their choice in that year. And get this! They also made a law that any man who declined a proposal in a leap year had to pay a fine. Before you start writing your congressman with this idea–the fine could range from a kiss to payment for a silk dress or a pair of gloves. I guess back then a pair of gloves might cost a year’s salary, but a kiss? Come on, now! What woman would accept a kiss from a man who just, in essence, told her she sucks?
The US Version
In America, the tradition is alive and well–February 29th is known as Sadie Hawkins Day, when women have the right to run after unmarried men to propose. Of course, it makes you look less insane if you have a guy picked out and thoroughly evaluated rather than scouring the streets looking for empty ring fingers to slap on an engagement ring. Whatever your strategy this February 29th, I wish you luck!
You made the ask and he said, “Yes!”
So go and buy that wedding dress.
And who freed your “proposal” clog?
Just thank MyWeddingFavors blog!
We’re here for you 24/seven!
