Jan 31 2008
St Valentines Day & Leap Year Traditions
Traditionaly, a Leap Year has been a time when women can propose marriage to a man. This tradition, said to go back to 5th century Ireland where Brigid of Kildare complained to St Patrick that women had to wait so long for a man to propose. St Patrick suggested women be allowed to propose on the 29th of Febuary - one day in every leap year.
In todays modern time, women can propose at any time without society looking down on them. However, back when the rules of courtship were more formal, women could only propose marriage once evey four years - on February 29.
According to english law, February 29 was ignored and had no legal status. It was reasoned that a leap year existed to fix a calendar problem, that it could also be used to address an unjust custom that only let men propose marriage to women.
Supposedly (but disputed), in a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (then aged five), men who refused a proposal of marriage must pay a fine. The fine ranged from a kiss to a £1 to a silk dress.
Some regard this as folk lore with no historical relevance.
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