Propose Day Date in the current year: February 8, 2024

Valentine’s Day is a holiday of love and romance, which is celebrated not only in Christian countries (in fact, it has long been absent from the official church calendar), but also around the world. For many people, Valentine's Day is a great occasion to finally propose to their significant other, but some believe that this is too cheesy. If you belong to the latter, consider proposing to your sweetheart on Propose Day, which is celebrated earlier than Valentine’s Day, but during the same week. And if their answer is “Yes!”, you can properly celebrate your engagement on February 14.

Back in the day, in many cultures it was traditional for a man to ask permission to marry from a woman’s father before proposing to her or even instead of proposing. In some cases, the woman’s opinion didn’t really matter; a marriage was a kind of a business transaction where the woman and her dowry were passed from one man (father or an older relative) to another. Sadly, the tradition persists in some cultures even today.

Luckily, in most of the Western world women are free to decide whom to marry (or whether they want to get married at all), and sometimes even are the first to propose to their partners instead of waiting to be asked the big question. Do you know, for example, that Queen Victoria had to propose to Prince Albert because she was a reigning monarch at the time of their engagement? In the United States, about 5% of women are the first to propose, so jewelry companies have even started manufacturing engagement rings for men.

There are a lot of ways to propose. Some prefer the traditional option, where the person who is proposing (usually the man) bends a knee in front of their significant other, asks “Will you marry me?” and presents an engagement ring. Some surprise their significant other by hiding a ring in a dessert or dropping it in a glass of champagne, and some arrange treasure hunts or flash mobs to make their marriage proposal really unforgettable.

Be that as it may, the main thing is that a marriage proposal should be made sincerely and with love, not just because you’re expected to propose. That is why some people prefer to propose on February 8 instead of Valentine’s Day, so that their partner won’t think that they have succumbed to the Valentine’s Day “love fever” and can be sure in the sincerity of their feelings and the seriousness of their intentions.

By the way, in addition to Propose Day, there are other holidays when you can propose to your significant other. For example, National Proposal Day in the United States is celebrated on March 20. And in Scotland, Ireland, England and Finland, there is a custom where a woman can propose to her partner on February 29 in a leap year.