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| 1904 Calendar-Illustrated by Frances Brundage (source) |
February 29th comes once every four years--during "Leap Year." An extra day is added at the end of February to compensate for the slight difference between our modern Gregorian calendar, in which a year is made up of 365 days, and the actual length of the orbit around the sun, which takes 365.2422 days to complete. Adding this extra day keeps our clocks and calendars synchronized with the seasons.
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| Postcard Calendar (1908) (source) |
In Roman times, the calendar year had 365 days, and an extra 22 day month every two years made up for the difference. In 46 B.C.E. Roman Emperor Julius Caesar ordered the Alexandrian philosopher and astronomer Sosigenes to devise a better way to structure the calendar year. After consulting with several learned astronomers, he decided that every four years should consist of 366 days. This fourth year was originally called bissextile, and in modern times is called leap year.
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| 1908 Calendar-Illustrated by Frances Brundage (source) |
In the 16th century, the Gregorian calendar was developed. The calendar needed to be adjusted, because of a slight discrepancy which was discovered in the calculation of the length of the year. An extra day every fourth year lengthened the time by eleven minutes ten seconds too much, and in 1582, Pope Gregory found that the actual date was ten days behind the calendar. To fix the situation, Pope Gregory omitted the 10 extra days, and declared that October 5 of that year should become October 15. He also decreed that an extra day should be dropped three times in every 400 years to keep things on schedule. For this reason, both 1800 and 1900 were not made Leap Years, and February kept only 28 days. The Gregorian calendar was readily adopted in Roman Catholic countries, but not in Britain (and the Colonies) until 1752, by which time the difference between the Julian and the Gregorian periods stood at eleven days. An Act of Parliament in that year ordained that September 3 should be considered September 14, and the "new" calendar was finally adopted.
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| 1904 Calendar (source) |
The origin of the name "leap year" is attributed to an old legend that Father Time takes a "leap" after February 29th. After that date he leaps over the day of the week in which the date would fall in ordinary years. For example, Christmas was on a Friday in 2015. In most years, it would next fall on a Saturday, but because this is a Leap year, Christmas 2016 will fall on a Sunday.
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| Postcard- Father Time (source) |
People born on February 29th usually celebrate their special day on either February 28 or march 1, but have few actual birthdays. The composer Rossini was born on "Leap Day" 1792, and on his 72nd birthday, declared that he was really only eighteen, and had "not finished sowing his wild oats."
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| Gioachino Rossini, photographed by Étienne Carjat, 1865 (source) |
There is an old romantic tradition that a woman could reverse the usual custom and propose marriage to a man in Leap Year. Although times have changed, it is still more common in the 21st century for a man ask a woman out on a date, as well as to be the one to propose. But the dance of romance has always been complicated, full of subtleties and nonverbal communication, and cannot always be defined by laws and conventions. The following passage is excerpted from a 1916 newspaper article:
The Origin of Leap Year--Its Customs and Legends
The origin of the custom for women to woo, not to be wooed, during leap year, is traced back to a legend of St. Patrick (who lived in the 5th century). As the story runs, the good man was strolling along the shores of Lough Neagh after having driven "all the frogs from all the bogs and banished all the varmints," (from Ireland) when he was accosted bu St. Bridget (aka St. Brigid of Kildare), who with tears and lamentations, told him that dissention had arisen among the women of her nunnery over the fact that they were (denied) the privilege of popping the question. In St.Bridget's says celibacy was not enforced as an absolute rule for the clergy of the church, although it was regarded as the proper state for a man of the sanctuary.
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| St. Patrick by Currier and Ives (Courtesy of Library of Congress) |
St. Patrick was stern, but he offered to concede to the ladies the privilege of proposing every seven years. Then St. Bridget threw her arms about his neck and exclaimed, "Dear Patrick, I dare not go back to the girls with such a proposal. Make it one year in four." To which St.Patrick replied, "Squeeze me that way again, and I'll give you leap year, the longest one in the lot." Then St. Bridget, thus encouraged, thought of her own husband-less condition, and popped the question to St.Patrick. But he had already taken the vow of celibacy, so he had to patch up her feelings with a kiss and a silken gown. And ever since that time, according to the legend, "If a man refuses a leap year proposal he must pay the penalty of a kiss and a silken gown." While this legend sounds like a myth pure and simple and cannot be found in any of the lives of St.Patrick as written by his followers, it is recorded in several old books and must have been taken seriously in several countries.
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| St. Brigid of Kildare (source) |
In the year 1288 a law on leap year was passed in Scotland and was actually enforced for a long time. The translation in English of this curious edict is as follows:
"It is a statute and ordained that during the reign of her blessed majesty for every year known as leap year every maiden lady of both high and low estate shall have the liberty to bespeak the man she likes, and should he refuse to take her to be his lawful wife, he shall be fined in a sum of pounds more or less as his estate may be large or small, unless he can prove that he is already betrothed to another woman, in which case he may go free."
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| A Highland Lassie-Postcard (1910) (source) |
A few years later a similar law was passed in France and received the king's approval. It is said that numbers of maidens took advantage of this law. They must have been accepted, as the records show no fines imposed upon the men who were wooed. The same law was in vogue during the days of Columbus in Genoa and Florence, and one of his biographers hints at the time when during leap year several ladies proposed marriage to him, but as he was already betrothed he "escaped their wiles." In England during the early 18th century, the men made merry on the 29th of February, often climbing on the top of barrels of liquor and drinking to the health of the women they expected to propose to them. In the rural districts homely men paraded the streets, singing as they passed the girls: "Woe is me, no lady will propose to me!"
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| 18th Century parade-"Woe Is Me, No Lady Will Propose To Me!" |
In the days of King Henry VIII (in the 16th century), Will Sommers, his famous jester, caused much merriment at court by having the maids on duty at the palace propose to him in the presence of the king. Each one made her own little speech, bowing before the court fool. He refused each one with great dignity, much to the amusement of the king. Each maid was presented with a silken gown as her reward. All sorts of leap year tricks were played by the famous jester, whose spontaneous wit was the talk of the English court of the sixteenth century.
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| Court Jester Will Sommers (source) |
Even as late as the nineteenth century leap year entertainments were held and women proposed to men in public. Skating parties where the women called for the men and took them to the frozen ponds were the fashion. The men gave exhibitions of skating, after which proposals of marriage were in order. Sometimes the best skater had the question popped to him half a dozen times. Leap year balls and parties were in vogue as well, and altogether leap year in Merrie England seems to have been a gay twelve months....
(One authority) declared that it was both just and proper in case of a refusal of the lady's proposal that she should be presented with a silk dress. This, too, seems to have been practiced for a time, but some of the men were taxed with giving a score or more of gowns. It seems that every maid and widow was seized with the wild desire to "pop the question," and in this way replenish her wardrobe in pay for her mortification in having been refused.
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| Woman Proposing from The Omaha Bee (02/27/1916) |
All these customs have died out, although one occasionally hears of a leap year party being given where the girls ask the boys to dance with them and act as the escorts of the men to supper. All these are merry jests and there are no serious proposals of marriage, although one of our noted writers declares that "women are everlastingly leading us on."
From The Evening Star, Washington D.C. (01/02/1916)
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| Postcard (1904) (source) |
The following excerpt is from and article in Every Woman's Encyclopaedia, published in England in 1912. This article describes the St. Patrick legend, offers commentary on the13th century Scottish law and other customs which were previously mentioned, and then goes on to describe other leap year traditions from around the world.
Leap Year Lore
by Lydia O'Shea
It has been truly but cynically remarked that the (Scottish) Act was passed during the reign of a woman (Queen Margaret), but this merely emphasizes the fact that although Suffragettes—at least, by that name—were unknown at that period, the emancipation of woman was not, and women knew how to stand shoulder to shoulder in the thirteenth century as well as in the twentieth. One wonders what would have been (Scottish Clergyman) John Knox's opinion on this truly "monstrous regiment of women."
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| Stained Glass Window Depicting Margaret, Maid of Norway, Queen of Scots (reign: 1286-1290) (source) (license) |
In later years similar laws were passed by various countries of Europe, and, moreover, enforced, if we are to believe the amazing statement that in one year alone in Genoa no fewer than 363 prosecutions were instituted against ungallant gallants who had declined the proposals of certain fair damsels. What a glorious harvest the Italian silk mercers must have reaped in those happy days ! Anglo-Saxon women, apparently, were not so exacting as to the material of consolation, for an old Anglo-Saxon chronicle, compiled before the (Norman) Conquest (in 1066), merely observes: "This year, being Leap Year, the ladies propose, and if not accepted, claim a new gown." Sometimes a silk petticoat was given, or even gloves, but a silken gown was the most useful.
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| Postcard (1904) (source) |
Looking further afield, we find some very original methods adopted by love encouraged maidens. The dark-eyed Moravian gypsy girl bakes a... Leap Year cake, and casts it inside the tent of her chosen one as a sign that she is willing to bake for him henceforward. In Sunny Spain a pumpkin pie is the silent messenger;while in far-off Mandalay a lamp in the window is the token of love. On the first day of the year the "love lamp" is lighted at eventide, and if the wished-for one enter the dwelling, the little maid places it in the window no more. Henceforth it is to burn for him alone ; but if love delays his coming, it gleams like a star each night in the casement, either till he comes, or else, love-lorn, she extinguishes it for ever.
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| Postcard (1904--Postally Used 1905) (source) |
One of the most amusing features of Leap Year is the "Leap Year Dance," which is got up by girls, each of whom asks some man to be her escort to the dance ; and she may also choose her partners. No chaperon is required, the man being requested to bring his mother, and so entirely reverse the usual state of affairs. Besides dances, Leap Year dinners are often held, when the hostess is entire mistress of the ceremonies, and the ladies propose the health of the gentlemen.
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| Postcard (1904) (source) |
But when all is said and done, it is very much to be questioned whether more women do not " propose" in the ordinary years ? Not in so many words, certainly not, but by the thousand and one little encouragements which the most womanly woman may give to a shy or diffident lover, though he actually does the asking? Surely woman is all skilled in the delicate mysteries of Love's realm, and has little real need, unless it be done in the spirit of mischief, to undertake a Leap Year proposal....
From Every Woman's Encyclopaedia, Vol 7 (1912)
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| Fishing Woman Lures Men With Money During Leap Year-Postcard (1904) (source) (*Note: "LSD" stands for £sd, the popular name for the pre-decimal currency in use in the UK until 1971. The abbreviation is from the Latin librae, solidi, and denarii, referred to as pounds, shillings, and pence. |
Although it was unusual for women to actually propose to men during leap year, this custom was celebrated humorously in many early 20th century postcards and comic illustrations. Many of these images portrayed men running away from or avoiding unattractive or overbearing women.
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| Postcard (1904) (source) |
Some people wondered if the new spirit of feminism brought in by the suffragettes and other proponents of women's rights would permanently alter social customs regarding marriage. As the world changed, many people felt concerned and even threatened by women's growing economic power and political influence amid changing roles in 20th century society.
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| Postcard (Circa 1900-1910) (source) |
An article which appeared in The Sunday Telegram in Clarksburg W.Va. on February 13, 1916, expressed such sentiments. The unnamed author wrote:
The Leap Year Valentine
"He Is in Her Hands This Year!"--How Will This Affect the Valentines of the New Feminist Era?
This is leap year, tomorrow is St. Valentine's day--and we are living in a "Feminist" era. Figure the combination of circumstances and judge for yourself what the consequences may be. Before Feminism came to be the significant force it is credited with being today, leap year was a whimsicality. There were traditions, strange stories handed down to the credulous, of actual cases where women proposed marriage under the privilege assumed to belong to the leap year calendar. And the joke was always good. It helped social merriment...
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| He Is In Her Hands |
Then along with so many other changes in dress, in manners, in customs as well as costumes, came changes in the mating formulas. It became apparent that women occasionally did propose, without waiting for leap year. And Feminism, that specter dreaded of timid men, began to flourish amazingly, and to recognize women's rights to take initiative in business, in society, in personal relations. We-Won't-Get-Married Clubs as well as We-Will-Get-Married Clubs began to spring up, often as a joke, but often, too, quite plainly indicating a rebellious disposition.
From The Day Book, Chicago (01/13/1916)
Here is the Debutante's Club, organized by twenty young women in Brooklyn, N.Y., and pledging each member to ask a man to marry her before the year is out. Miss Adele Huhn was elected president, Miss Mabel Mckeever was elected vice-president and Miss Mae Morse secretary. The club insists that it is not acting jocularly, but has the serious purpose of defying a tradition that has hampered women from the beginning of time.
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| Illustration by Coles Phillips (Circa 1912) |
What effect will such movements, such attitudes of mind, have on the venerable traditions of St. Valentine? Shall she send the tender symbolism to him? Is Cupid's whole game to be revised? The question is not trivial. Under the influence of a new rebellion it is possible that it is possible that a revision of the time-honored sentiments are to find an actual, practical beginning. Many a social change has begun in jest. Many a temple has been pulled down, many a statute rewritten, under the spell of what at first appeared to be a whimsicality....
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| Postcard (1904) (source) |
If we could know all that was said as well as written under the spell of St. Valentine and his festival, we should have a profounder knowledge of human nature, a deeper ethical insight into this thing called Love. We should know whether it is true that the coming of Feminism really is changing our social system, however subtly, or whether masculine and feminine hearts are remaining pretty much the same as they have always been. In the end we shall discover, probably, that, though fashions may change, even fashions of proposal, the eternal elements that determine the social partnership will go on being what they have been since the beginning of time.
From The Sunday Telegram, Clarksburg W.Va. (2/13/1916)
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| Illustration by Coles Phillips (Circa 1912) |
The following article, which appeared in The Day Book (Chicago) in 1916, presents a woman's proposal to a man in a positive light, from the perspective of a women's rights advocate of the era. The next day, an article appeared in the same newspaper, from a young woman with an opposing viewpoint. Both of these women believed in love, but perceived the subtleties of the game of romance differently.
Los Angeles, Cal., Feb 29.-- Miss Gloria Headington... is a staunch advocate of the woman's privilege of Leap Year Proposal.
"Leap Year," said Miss Headington, "never should be looked upon in a frivolous light. When taken seriously it is the means of solving one of our great social problems.
"Why should it be such a breach of etiquette for a woman to propose? The present system of courtship is unfair to women. The world is robbed in every generation of some of of its finest mothers, because some man has failed to ask them to wed. The only way to decrease the number of old maids is to allow women equal rights with men in the matter of proposing, and it is with this thought in mind that I suggested the Leap Year Court at the San Diego Fair.
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| From The Day Book, Chicago (03/28/1916) |
"There are a great many more women in the world than men, and under those conditions it is hardly right to bind womanhood by such conventions as to prevent them getting an even chance in Cupid's game of hearts."
Miss Headington declared that she believed that many men who would make good husbands are too timid to ask girls to marry them..."It is unfair to the woman in love," continued the inventor of the leap Year Court, "to deprive her of the right to express that love as frankly and freely as is man's privilege. A high wall of precedent stands in her way and she dare not violate custom by shattering it. leap year is her one opportunity to break this barrier. Therefore, I believe every woman should rise superior to foolish creed and make nown her love when she feels so inclined. Many hearts are broken because women dare not speak their minds."
"Would you propose to a man?" Miss Headington was asked.
"Well, that's a hard question to answer, because as yet I have never met a man whom I really loved. When I meet that man, I don't suppose he'll give me the chance to propose, because of the long established rules that govern the same. Anyway, I hardly expect to meet him this year. If I do--well, this is leap Year; that's all I have to say.
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| Postcard (1904) (source) |
"If women were not barred from custom by proposing I believe there would be happier marriages. Women are now under a tremendous handicap. They must wait for the man to "pop the question." Many times the man whom they wish would suggest matrimony passes them by and they then must be content with a second choice. Not infrequently women marry men whom they do not care for in the least just for the sake of getting a home and some of the comforts of life. These are the tragedies of our present plan of courtship, and how can marriage without love bring happiness into the home?
"Reformers cry, 'Take the woman out of the commercial world, out of the stenographer's chair and out of the stores.' This, they claim, would better moral conditions. If you really want to bring this condition about, then create more Leap years; let every year be a Leap year. Women are rapidly getting the ballot. Give them along with it the right to propose to the men they love."
From The Day Book, Chicago (02/29/1916)
Rebuttal to Miss Gloria Headington from Miss Isabel Wagner
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| From The Day Book, Chicago (03/01/1916) |
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