Sadie Hawkins Day

Centuries before Al Capp started the Sadie Hawkins Day fad in his Li'l Abner comic strip, women in Scotland and Ireland asked men to marry them during Leap Years. At least, that's how the story goes. Legend has it that in Ireland in the 5th century, St. Sadie Hawkins Day is an informal holiday involving dances or other social events in which girls are encouraged to ask boys to attend with them as their date.

The name Sadie Hawkins comes from a cartoonist named Al Capp, who created the popular cartoon "Lil' Abner". The cartoon was set in a hillbilly town called Dogpatch, and first came out in 1934. Sadie was the daughter of Hekzebiah Hawkins, and was labeled the "homeliest gal in all them hills".

Sadie Hawkins was not an actual person. She made her public debut in cartoon artist Al Capp's November 15, 1937, comic strip “Li'l Abner,” which was set in the fictional mountain village of Dogpatch, Kentucky.