HAPPY LEAP DAY!!
As I was looking through my calendar, I saw that this year is a Leap Year. And it just so happens that it falls on my normal blogging day. So I thought I’d look around and see if there were any fun customs or legends about Leap Year. I picked a couple of my favorites to share with y’all!
- “Legend has it that St. Brigid of Kildare, a fifth-century Irish nun, asked St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, to grant permission for women to propose marriage after hearing complaints from single women whose suitors were too shy to propose. Initially, he granted women permission to propose only once every seven years, but at Brigid’s insistence, he acquiesced and allowed proposals every leap day. The folk tale suggests that Brigid then dropped to a knee and proposed to Patrick that instant, but he refused, kissing her on the cheek and offering a silk gown to soften the blow. The Irish tradition therefore dictates that any man refusing a woman’s leap-day proposal must give her a silk gown.” (quoted from this article)
- People in Greece think it would be unlucky, not just to get married on Leap Day, but the whole Leap Year as well!
- In Scotland in 1288, the Queen supposedly made a law that said women could propose on Leap Day. But the women had to wear a red petticoat to show her intentions – and give warning to the men in case they needed to quickly get away.
- Anthony, Texas is the self-proclaimed “Leap Year Capital of the World”. It’s near El Paso, on the border of New Mexico. They hold a Leap Year Festival with parades, hot air balloon rides, and food.
- “The easiest way to remember what years are leap years is to see if the year is divisible by four: For instance, 2012 is divisible evenly by four, so it is a leap year, while 2011 was not evenly divisible by four, so it was a common year. There are some exceptions to this rule, however. Years that are divisible by 100 are not leap years unless they are also divisible by 400 (Still with us?). The year 2000 was a leap year, but 1800 was not.” (more from the article here)
If you want to read more Leap Year facts, check out these other articles here, and here.
OR, there’s always this…
Do you know any fun Leap Day or Leap Year traditions? Did you enjoy the movie “Leap Year”?
