Sadie Hawkins Day, an American folk event,
made its debut in Al Capp's Li'l Abner strip
November 15, 1937.
Sadie Hawkins was "the homeliest gal in the hills" who grew
tired of waiting for the fellows to come a courtin'.
Her father, Hekzebiah Hawkins, a
prominent resident of Dogpatch, was even more worried about Sadie living
at home for the rest of his life, so he decreed
the first annual Sadie Hawkins Day, a foot race in which the
unmarried gals pursued the town's bachelors, with matrimony the
consequence.
By the late 1930's the event had swept
the nation and had a life of its own. Life magazine reported over 200
colleges holding Sadie Hawkins Day events in 1939, only two years after
its inception. It became a woman
empowering rite at high schools and college campuses, long before the
modern feminist movement gained
prominence.
The basis of Sadie Hawkins Day is that
women and girls take the initiative in inviting the man or boy of their
choice out on a date, typically to a dance attended by other bachelors
and their aggressive dates. When
Al Capp created the event, it was not his intention to have the event
occur annually on a specific date because
it inhibited his freewheeling plotting.
However, due to its enormous popularity and the
numerous fan letters Capp received,
the event became an
annual event in the strip
during the month of
November, lasting
four decades. |
