Twelve Pairs of Gloves

by Diana Mccollum

As I was perusing information on Leap Year, I came across some really interesting tidbits of information about this extra calendar day.

Leap Day is in February because February used to be the last month of the year.

According to an old 5th century Irish legend, St. Bridget petitioned St. Patrick to allow women to propose to men every four years. Thus balancing the traditional roles of men and women much like Leap Day balances the traditional calendar year.

In America we have Sadie Hawkins day dances where the girl asks the guy to be her date, and it is generally celebrated in Leap Year. 

In Scotland it is considered bad luck to be born on Leap Day. 1288 Scotland passed a law that allowed women to propose to men during Leap Year. Any man who declined had to pay a fine, which could be anything from a kiss to a new silk dress. 

In Denmark the old Leap Year tradition goes, if the woman proposes and the gent declines he owes her twelve pairs of gloves. One pair for each month to hide the fact she is not wearing an engagement ring.

Greece considers it unlucky to marry in a Leap Year, and especially on Leap Day.

The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies is an organization for persons born on Leap Day. 

According to the Guinness Book of Records, there is a family who produced three consecutive generations born on February 29 and there are different records of children in the same families all born on February 29th..

As a writer, I can see many, many story ideas embedded in these fun facts. I personally don’t know anyone born on February 29th. I have a friend whose husband and their first daughter were both born on Valentine's Day.

Do you know anyone with a birthday on February 29th?  Or a family whose birthdays fall on the same day?

Ode to Saint Patrick’s Day What is a Limerick?

Limericks are a misunderstood form of poetry.  Many poetry purists don’t consider Limericks as poetry at all.

The basis for a limerick is as follows:
Lines 1, 2, and 5 of Limericks have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with one another.
Lines 3 and 4 of Limericks have five to seven syllables and also rhyme with each other. It can be funny, bawdy, sad or sexual.

Nursery rhymes are often in limerick form.  Limerick is a town in Ireland where the first limericks were cultivated as an art form.  Many of the sexual or bawdy limericks were created in pubs in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by drunken patrons.

For your enjoyment I am giving you some of the limericks from Edward Lear's “Book of Nonsense” which was published by Thomas McLean on 10th February 1846. There were altogether seventy-two limericks in two volumes. These limericks have proven very popular over the years.

There was a Young Lady of Ryde,
Whose shoe-strings were seldom untied.
She purchased some clogs,
And some small spotted dogs,
And frequently walked about Ryde.

There was an Old Lady of Chertsey,
Who made a remarkable curtsey;
She twirled round and round,
Till she sunk underground,
       Which distressed all the people of Chertsey.

There was an Old Man of Kilkenny,
Who never had more than a penny;
He spent all that money,
In onions and honey,
That wayward Old Man of Kilkenny.

Their was a Young Lady of Bute,
Who played on a silver-gilt flute;
She played several jigs,
To her uncle's white pigs,
That amusing Young Lady of Bute.

There was an Old Man in a boat,

Who said, "I'm afloat, I'm afloat!"

When they said, "No! you ain't!"

He was ready to faint,

That unhappy Old Man in a boat.

There was a Young Lady whose chin,

Resembled the point of a pin;

So she had it made sharp,

And purchased a harp,

And played several tunes with her chin.

There was an Old Man with a beard,

Who said, 'It is just as I feared!

Two Owls and a Hen,

Four Larks and a Wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard!

I hope you enjoyed or at least got a laugh out of one of these Limericks!  I know I did!  My favorite was the last limerick.

 Do you have a favorite limerick or rhyme?

 Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to everyone!