Mrs Finnegan’s Almanac: Ladies, get your red petticoats ready!

Proposing

Two women are held responsible for the LEAP Year tradition that allows women to PROPOSE on February 29th.

Queen Margaret of Scotland was said to have passed a law in 1288 but I looked her up in the Master’s under-used (by him) but frequently dusted (by me) library and she would have been a wee mite at the time and dead two years later. I can’t think why a CHILD would bother with such stuff.

The other woman is MUCH more likely – St Brigid of Kildare, who told Saint Patrick that women needed to give shy suitors a CHANCE. I’ve always believed I have a lot in common with St Brigid. Enough of history.

What has a girl got to do in February 1837? To propse she has to wear a red petticoat. It acts as a ‘warning’ to men of her intentions (apparently St Patrick insisted). I think she also needs witnesses just in case there is any temptation to forget what happened. A market place would be ideal.

No one could say that this girl wasn’t playing fair

The man MUST pay a penalty if he refuses and what it is depends on where you live and I suppose the economic situation of the man. It could be a new silk gown or 12 pairs of gloves (to hide the poor girl’s embarrassment at have having no wedding ring to show) or a kiss.

A KISS! Ponder on which one is the most likely to be given in compensation and you will have the right answer.

Heartbalm Law – what if he says YES and then says NO

You can sue for Breach of Promise, but then so can he if you change your mind so think carefully before putting on a red petticoat. It’s become less common for men to do it, but back when I was a gal it was just as likely the man would go to court as the lady, especially if a fat dowry was involved.

Heartbalm – you wouldn’t think that lawyers would come up with such a poetic term. It almost makes them seem slightly human.

Unwanted Husbands

There is no divorce to be had (unless you are a Lord with titles and a thick skin prepared to have the details of your daily life discussed in parliament and written about in newspapers and can pay a THOUSAND pounds or more for the privilege) but Wife Selling is allowed and has been on the increase of late.
Let me be very clear. I do not APPROVE.
It is a shameful business with a woman being sold with a halter around her neck (or a rope tied to her apron as in the sketch above). Like a horse! Like a dog!

But I live in the world we have and not the one we WANT and it can be a way of escaping a bad marriage and there’s a fair few women who have put the halter around their OWN neck in order to do just that. (Of course, that only works if you and the ‘buyer’ are in accord and the husband is agreeable. O pity the poor wife when a stranger makes the winning bid.) And I am not happy about the sales where alcohol is a large part of the price. A Brighton wife was sold at the end of the last century for seven shillings and eight pots of beer and in Sussex wife sales nearly always happen in a Tavern and yet…and yet…

Husbands who Forget Anniversaries

I have decided that anniversary remembering is over-rated. It’s a very German kind of practice which is well and good for them and I would not utter a critical word, but is not what we do here.

And, of course, Master Peregrine had not forgotten. I am not sure why some of you JUMPED to the conclusion that he had.

Loyal readers will recall that I received THREE presents at Christmas: a framed print of a dress I would dearly like to own, new ribbon for my bonnet (dust coloured because it goes with everything) and a pine chair.

The chair was to mark our anniversary, it being a domestic object and of use to us both. Indeed he wrote those sentiments in a little card that I somehow over-looked/mislaid/didn’t read. Master P reminded me of it last week when I happened to mention our unmarked first anniversary in a light conversational way . The subject is now closed.

Saint of the Week

St Julian Feast Day February 12th patron saint of hotel keepers, travellers and murderers

Strictly speaking he is the saint of last week, but how could I leave him out once I discovered him? Julian was either cursed at birth to kill his parents or when he was out hunting a talking stag prophesised he would do this terrible crime. He left home at 10 to avoid his fate. Twenty years later his parents found where he lived and visited him. Julian was out when they arrived but his wife made they very welcome and insisted they sleep in the marital bed.

I think you know what happened next.

When Julian returned he saw the bodies in his bed, assumed his wife had committed adultery and killed his mother and father. When he discovered his mistake, he vowed to spend the rest of his life doing charitable works. He and his wife built a hospice to welcome weary and sick travellers, and Julian was finally forgiven when he gave his bed to a leper.

Improve your Vocabulary One Word at a Time

Today I give you a word you may already have heard in the MORE respectable Taverns or business premises. It is pang-wangle which is hard to say without smiling. It means to be cheerful despite minor setbacks.
I see myself as a pang-wangler par excellence and I wonder if you would agree. Indeed it is something we all need to master especially in February, the shortest month yet the one that drags on the longest.

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