SAINT CREDITED WITH LEAP-YEAR TRADITION

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992                   TAG: 9202290183
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PAULA MONAREZ
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Short
SAINT CREDITED WITH LEAP-YEAR TRADITION
Renowned beauty St. Bridget started it all, back in the fifth century, when she pleaded for mercy from Ireland's patron saint to allow women to propose marriage to men, according to legend.
The story goes that Bishop Patrick reluctantly granted her request but with the proviso that women could only do the asking during the longest year, which is leap year.
St. Bridget used the opportunity to ask St. Patrick to marry her, but he turned her down, sending her a silk gown to appease her, according to Frances Cattermole-Tally, a Brentwood resident and executive editor of Encyclopedia of American Popular Belief and Superstition.
In 1288, the Scottish Parliament decided to make it law, decreeing that a woman could propose marriage to a man of her choosing during leap year. If he refused, he had to pay 100 pounds or less, depending on how much money he had, Cattermole-Tally said.
The only way he could get out of it was if he could prove he was betrothed to another woman, she said.
The first reference to the leap-year tradition in the United States appeared in the 1828 Farmer's Almanac, Cattermole-Tally said. The custom grew to include that if a man refuses a woman's proposal, he must buy her a dress.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB