Maiden Song by Emma Florence Harrison, 1910 |
- In the British Isles, it is a tradition that women may propose marriage only on leap years.
- A 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow.
- Later, women looking to take advantage of their opportunity to proposal marriage were expected to wear a scarlet petticoat as fair warning.
- In Denmark, the tradition is that women may propose on the bissextile leap day, February 24, and that refusal must be compensated with 12 pairs of gloves.
- In Finland, the tradition is that if a man refuses a woman's proposal on leap day, he should buy her the fabric for a skirt.
- In Greece, marriage in a leap year is considered unlucky.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventionsalphabet/a/leap_year.htm
STORIES
Below are some stories that will hopefully make you “leap” for joy!
Two Feasts and a Leap Day – Ukraine
The Death Leap of Tikawe – Maori
The Leap – Aesop
The Leap-Frog – Danish
Leap the Elk and Princess Tuvstarr (Cottongrass) – Sweden
And of course, if we are talking about leaping we can’t leave out our friendly frogs! Here is a blog post I wrote in April of 2010 to celebrate National Frog Month.
CRAFTS
Child Fun – Leap year crafts, songs and activities.
http://tinyurl.com/7ytovbr
http://tinyurl.com/7ytovbr
Leap Year Party Games and Printables – Lots of fun things here including a frog puppet, maze and more.
http://www.tipjunkie.com/leap-year-party/
http://www.tipjunkie.com/leap-year-party/
CURRICULUM
Leap Year Math Quiz
http://tinyurl.com/8yqwb2z
Lesson Plans Page.com – For grades 6 through 7.
http://tinyurl.com/7gbpzvm
Jump Rope RHYME
Leap Year, Leap Year
When will you be?
Every four years
Then you'll see.
You want more?
We do too!
How many more
can you Leap to?
2 comments:
How fascinating! I had no idea about the whole tradition of women being able to propose on a leap year. And that 1288 law is priceless!
Jai
Hi Jai,
I knew the custom of proposal via the movie Leap Year but not the other information. It is always so much to find out these interesting tidbits via the Internet. :)
Karen
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