The Origin of Sadie Hawkins

Picture this, you’re a young bachelor in the hillbilly town of Dogpatch, USA. It’s a fine morning, some time in mid-November, when you get rushed towards a starting line. You look around and see the rest of the towns bachelors standing with you. In that moment it dawns upon you that today is Sadie Hawkins Day. A dreadful day for some people and a hopeful one for others.

You see a man raise a gun while everyone on the line starts getting ready to run. The gun goes off and it’s a scramble of bodies everywhere. All that you can keep in mind is to make sure you cross the finish line. That is until you hear a second gunshot go off and become aware that the chase is on.

You remember now that you have until sunset to make it past the line. If not, you have until sunset to avoid the towns unmarried homeliest women chasing after you. If you happen to get caught by one, matrimony was the consequence. If you manage to not get caught, you’re safe until the next year.

This may not be an actual way of getting married in real life but it was real enough for the characters in the comic strip “Li’l Abner” by Al Capp. On November 15, 1937, Al Capp posted a new comic strip that focused on Sadie Hawkins Day. As the story goes, Sadie Hawkins was a girl that was tired of waiting around for a bachelor to choose her. Her father decided to make a day specifically for her. This was how the annual Sadie Hawkins Day came to be. Just a father who found a way for his daughter to get married.

When the comic strip was posted, it wasn’t Capp’s original intention for the idea to blow up. However, his fans were instantly intrigued to see what would happen every year on Sadie Hawkins Day. They wanted to know whether Li’l Abner would end getting caught.

In the end, he did end up marrying Betty Mae, the girl he avoided for so long.

It became so popular that all throughout American middle schools, high schools and colleges began to host a dance on Sadie Hawkins Day. The idea for the dance was that girls would ask the boys to go with them. It was a chance for girls to get creative and at the time that it surfaced, it was a way to empower young woman as well.

For the boys, it was a time to experience what it felt like to wait around and wonder when or if you would get asked. It is so common now that even our school is hosting a Sadie Hawkins Dance this Saturday, February 9th. So ladies grab a partner or friend of your choosing and make sure to have some fun! You wouldn’t want to miss out on the last high school dance of the year.

If you still want to learn more, I would also suggest looking into reading “Li’l Abner”. Especially if you want to see the comic strips Sadie Hawkins Day was based on. However, if comics aren’t to your liking, there is always the option of watching the animated cartoon or even the musical adaptation.