Leap Year: Time for Women to Propose Marriage to Their Men

Girls, have you been waiting years for your boyfriend to propose marriage?  Do you wish there was a way to speed things up?

If so, wish no more, because in a leap year it’s perfectly acceptable for a woman to propose marriage to her man, and a man can even be fined for refusing!

‘Leap year’ describes a year with one extra day, on February 29th, and occurring every four years.  The extra day was introduced in ancient times when academics first realised the sun took slightly more than a year to revolve around the earth.  So the extra day was designed to match the calendar year to the sun’s circumference of our planet.

That extra day was tagged on to the last month of the year, then February, so extending February’s twenty-eight days to twenty-nine.  
February 29th became known as ‘leap day’, and spawned numerous myths and legends since its introduction more than two thousand years ago.

One such legend tells how St. Bridget approached St. Patrick and asked him to allow women to propose marriage to their men, mainly because a high proportion of Irish women had waited years for a man to propose to them, and a good many had died without ever being asked.

St. Patrick agreed and declared that women could propose marriage to men on one day every four years.  Hence the reason leap day, February 29th, became the allotted time for tradition to be overturned and for women to propose to their men.

History insists that St. Patrick ordained just one day - leap day - for the special event, while many women who’ve taken the plunge and proposed to their men say the rule applies throughout a leap year.

Well they would, wouldn’t they, if they’re having a tough time summoning up courage to propose to their men, or they haven’t decided which man to ask?

Or maybe they’re just worried what their men’s reaction might be, and fear they’ll be rejected and forced to look elsewhere for a husband.

Now you know it can be done, and with a leap day looming, it’s time to plan for the big event in expectation of a resounding “Yes” to your question.

So let us look at how and where to propose to your man, and how to make sure your proposal is accepted.

These tips will help:

*  Do you know how your man might react to your proposal?  Might he be shocked into submission, and might he regret his decision later? Will he welcome not having to pop the question himself?  Or will he be up in arms that you’ve broken with tradition and made him the laughing stock of his family and friends?  If you think he might be astounded or hurt, try dropping a few hints about marriage instead and hope he will propose to you.

*  If you think he’ll be embarrassed, avoid handing over a diamond ring in front of his workmates, and propose somewhere quiet instead.  Try the bedroom, for example, or go down on one knee in an empty room in the college library.  If he says “no”, you won’t be embarrassed; if he says “yes”, you’ll know it wasn’t to please your family and friends.

*  Is he ready for marriage, or might your question lead to a refusal he never gets round to retracting?  If you’re not sure what his answer will be, try talking about friends who are getting married, make a big thing of celebrities tying the knot, study his reaction and interpret scorn as a sign you shouldn’t propose, and a warm smile as a signal you should.

Finally, if your man does refuse your hand in marriage, take comfort from a condition laid down by St. Patrick when he agreed women could propose to men, being that any man who refuses a lady’s proposal must pay a heavy fine or buy her an expensive garment.  In many countries, even today, the appropriate penalty is a pair of gloves.

Those gloves, by the way, are to hide the absence of an engagement ring, and prevent embarrassment for the lady so spurned!