Women Proposing To Men This Leap Year…
Yes ladies, this year IS a leap year. Tradition states that on ‘leap day’ (February 29th) you can throw your man to the ground, present him with one of our men’s engagement rings and demand that he marries you before he is allowed to get up again. This is only partly true.
It seems that this tradition dates back to the 5th century (or possibly even further) and that a leap year is a year when the calendar has one extra day. Then, so it is said, St Patrick noticed an abundance of yearning females and decided to allow them to propose to the objects of their unrequited passion. How very kind. They only had to wait four years for this opportunity and the rest of the time presumably they were draped over furniture and just generally moping about.
Personally I don’t like this vision of a leap year and prefer to think of women taking control and getting on with the job in hand. If you want to marry then go for it and ask! Don’t hang about waiting like your wet predecessors. Another part to this custom was that if you proposed on the 29th of February and you were refused, then the man had to pay you a penalty. Doing my research the price seems to be some cloth for a skirt however…. when you think that all those years ago, most people only had one set of clothes then ‘some cloth for a skirt’ would be be worth quite a lot. Therefore translated into modern currency I would say we were looking at possibly an all expenses paid 5 star trip to the Caribbean for a fortnight or possibly a nice little runaround car? That would suffice I think to eradicate the disappointment of being refused!
If you’ve decided to take the bull by the horns and propose on ‘leap day’ you’ll be in need of an engagement ring. Men’s engagement rings have become more popular over the past few years and we’ve found that most men who chose to have an engagement ring wear it on their left hand while engaged. This is then replaced with the wedding ring and then moved to the right hand. Designer Einhorn (a pioneer of the ‘mengagement’ ring) has created a number of contemporary styles for men, ranging from the understated diamond ring to a classic plain band or a heritage inspired Thames Wood ring.
For a large number of men an engagement and or a wedding ring will be the only jewellery they ever wear. They will wear these rings every day for the rest of their lives so durability is obviously really important. We always suggest choosing a harder metal like platinum, 18 carat white gold, 18 carat rose gold or 14 carat yellow gold (which is actually harder than 18 carat yellow gold). Titanium and palladium have also become more popular options for wedding and engagement rings due to their highly durable qualities. We all know that men are rough, tough creatures with (sometimes) bad hand to eye coordination so jewellery should always be chosen accordingly!
You can view our collection of men’s engagement rings online or at our London shop and if you have a question or need a bit of guidance please don’t hesitate to contact the shop at shop@stepheneinhorn.co.uk – we’re here to help!
