Do You Know What Today Is?

February 29th comes once every four years. Most of us know this day as Leap Year, but what I didn’t realize is that today is also Sadie Hawkins Day. Today is the day that men and women switch societal roles and the woman approaches and courts the man. It all stemmed from a comic strip called Li’l Abner, created by a man named Al Capp.

Sadie Hawkins Day is a fictional holiday that originates in Al Capp's comic strip Li'l Abner. It was a day-long event in observed in Canada and in the United States on the Saturday that follows November 9[citation needed], named after Sadie Hawkins, "the homeliest gal in all them hills." Each year on Sadie Hawkins Day the unmarried women of Dogpatch pursued the single men. If a woman caught a man and dragged him back to the starting line by sundown, he had to marry her.

In the Li'l Abner comic strip, Sadie Hawkins was the daughter of one of Dogpatch's earliest settlers, Hekzebiah Hawkins. When she reached the age of 35, still a spinster, her father in desperation called together the eligible bachelors of Dogpatch and declared that day to be Sadie Hawkins Day and that "when ah fires [my gun] all o' yo' kin start a-runnin! When ah fires agin - after givin' yo' a fair start - Sadie starts a runnin'. Th' one she ketches'll be her husband."

The town spinsters decided that this was such a good idea, they made Sadie Hawkins Day an annual event, much to the chagrin of Dogpatch bachelors everywhere.

Sadie Hawkins Day was first mentioned in the November 13, 1937 Li'l Abner strip with the race actually taking place between the November 19th and November 30th strips. It would prove to be an annual event in the strip. (Read more on Sadie Hawkins Day)

Today, ladies, is the day to burn your bras and grow some balls! Don’t be afraid to tell him how you really feel…what better time than the present? If it backfires, you’ve got another four years before you’re back to playing role reversal, but imagine if things actually work out in your favor. Good luck!