ASDA part of the Wal-Mart familyASDA
Invis
Invis
Wednesday 27th February, 2008
ASDA’S ENGAGING SOLUTION TO LEAP YEAR QUANDARY

Supermarket sells men’s engagement ring for less than £40

 To celebrate the leap year tradition of women proposing marriage to the man in their life on 29 February, ASDA is offering ladies in love the perfect gift to pop the question with – an exclusive men’s engagement ring at a real gem of a price! 

The nine carat ring set with three diamonds comes in two colour gold and is available from all ASDA stores with a jewellery counter for just £37, making it possible for ladies-in-love to pop the question, without having to pop to their bank for a loan. 

ASDA is even offering a free re-sizing service to make sure the ring perfectly fits the ring-finger of their husband-to-be. 

What’s more, ASDA is also providing an extra special way for women to amplify their affections on 29 February. 

The supermarket is freeing up the tannoys in all its stores for anybody who would like to propose over the airways to their unsuspecting other half whilst they do the weekly shop.    

Justine Reid, jewellery buyer at ASDA, comments: “Everybody knows that love shouldn’t cost anything but if we had to put a price on it, we think that £37 is the best deal around.  Our men’s engagement ring is set to be a real jewel in our crown and means that women no longer have any reason not to propose to the man they love.” 

The leap year tradition means that women can propose to men on 29 February dates back to a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland which meant that fines were levied if a marriage proposal was refused by a man, ranging from a kiss through to a silk gown. 

Many men felt that this put them at too great a risk and eventually fought and won the battle for it to be restricted to leap year’s only.

Notes for Editors

 The History of Leap Year’s and Marriage

According to English law, February 29th was ignored and had no legal status.  People assumed that traditions would also have no status on that day. It was also reasoned that since the leap year day existed to fix a problem in the calendar, it could also be used to fix an old and unjust custom that only let men propose marriage.  

The first documentation of this practice dates back to 1288, when Scotland passed a law that allowed women to propose marriage to the man of their choice in that year. They also made it law that any man who declined a proposal in a leap year must pay a fine.

The fine could range from a kiss to payment for a silk dress or a pair of gloves.  

 Engagement – where did the term come from?The concept of an engagement period may have begun in 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council, headed by Pope Innocent III, which decreed that "marriages are to be ... announced publicly in the churches by the priests during a suitable and fixed time, so that if legitimate impediments exist, they may be made known."

Such a formal church announcement of the intent to marry is known as banns. In some jurisdictions, reading the banns may be part of one type of legal marriage.

The modern Western tradition of giving or exchanging engagement rings is thought to have begun in 1477 when Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor gave Mary of Burgundy a diamond ring as an engagement present.



 

ASDA.com Copyright 2008