In 1892, Iowa declared February 29 as “Bachelor’s Day” – a holiday where unmarried women could ask men to marry them without fear of social stigma.
Bachelor’s Day, sometimes known as Ladies’ Privilege, is an Irish tradition by which women are allowed to propose to men on Leap Day, and is based on a legend of Saint Bridget and Saint Patrick. It once had legal basis in Scotland and England, and became popular in the U.S. around the turn-of-the-century, but died out by the late 1910’s.
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