Atypical Musings

Dagnabit! Looks like I missed my big chance, and it won’t come around for another four years. No one told me that a Leap Year tradition (other than getting 29 cent fries and donuts at fast food eateries) even existed. Apparently, Leap Year Day offers women the opportunity to propose marriage to any fella she deems worthy. Naturally, there are many different theories as to how this practice originated and whether or not it can be called “Sadie Hawkins Day.”

The tradition of women proposing marriage on Leap Day is believed to have originated in Ireland in the fifth century with St. Brigid’s complaint to St. Patrick that women were getting impatient because men were talking too long to propose marriage. St. Patrick decided that women could propose to men every four years on Leap Day. Another tale states that Queen Margaret of Scotland instituted the rule that if a woman was turned down by the man, she would be compensated with a pair of gloves, money, or a dress–as they could get very expensive, the tradition was moved to Leap Day, and even then the women intent on marrying had to give warning by wearing “breeches”, which eventually turned into red skirts (read more).

Clearly, Sadie Hawkins Day is distinctively different than this Leap Year tradition according to others. They say that Sadie Hawkins Day is celebrated on November 15 in most places. Wikipedia offers more insight on Sadie Hawkin’s Day,

“In the Li’l Abner comic strip, Sadie Hawkins was the daughter of one of Dogpatch’s earliest settlers, Hekzebiah Hawkins. When she reached the age of 35, still a spinster, her father in desperation called together the eligible bachelors of Dogpatch and declared that day to be Sadie Hawkins Day and that “when ah fires [my gun] all o’ yo’ kin start a-runnin! When ah fires agin - after givin’ yo’ a fair start - Sadie starts a runnin’. Th’ one she ketches’ll be her husband.”

The town spinsters decided that this was such a good idea, they made Sadie Hawkins Day an annual event, much to the chagrin of Dogpatch bachelors everywhere.

Sadie Hawkins Day was first mentioned in the November 13, 1937 Li’l Abner strip with the race actually taking place between the November 19th and November 30th strips. It would prove to be an annual event in the strip.”

I really think that we single ladies should try to make Sadie Hawkins Day a national holiday. Right now it’s hard to tell when it’s even celebrated. We should get a chance to chase a bunch of men, track one day, and drag ‘em back into town to get hitched. It sounds perfectly barbaric, and yet kind of fun.

Of course, it would probably be better to actually give the man the option to say no. A rejected woman does get a gift of her choice to soften the blow. If a guy rejected my proposal, I’d want him to purchase me a pink taser gun. Naturally, I would have to try it out on someone first, like maybe the person who gave it to me. It’s a win/win situation–revenge and a present. Well, at least if you’re the woman. For guys, it’s completely unjust. There should be at least one tradition that weighs in the favor of female power.

Sadly, I didn’t ask anyone to marry me today…and I didn’t get any presents for being rejected either. But in four years, I’ll get my big chance again, and if I’m still single, I’m gonna go for it. OK, I probably won’t, but you won’t remember that four years from now.