Ladies! Today is your day to propose!

Not engaged just yet?  Want to be the one who does the proposing?  Well today, Leap Day – February 29,  is historically the day we are “allowed” to do it.  Though if you want to do it any other day, you just go ahead and do it.  Want to know a little more about how this whole idea came about, do ya?

In Scotland, an unmarried Queen Margaret allegedly enacted a law in 1288 allowing women to propose on leap-year day. But there was a catch: The proposer had to wear a red petticoat (a skirt under her skirt) to warn her intended that she planned to pop the question.
Perhaps the most well-known of the leap-year marriage superstitions belongs to Ireland, where, again, women are advised to propose only on Feb. 29 for good luck. (Anyone remember the 2010 film, “Leap Year”?)
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.

You can read more about the history and some other anecdotes on Huffington Post.  So what do you think, girls?  Time to throw your cares to the wind and take the leap today?