February 01, 2016

February



If I had to pick a least favorite month of the year it'd be February. Fortunately it's also the shortest but it still doesn't make up for the dullness of it. February is the month that seems to linger on forever. Here the weather is usually cold, wet and gloomy, the days are getting longer but barely.
In the early Ancient Rome they didn't even have a name for winter months...the period from late December to February was just referred to as "winter"...that kind of reflects my way of seeing things too. February was the last month added to their calendar and for a long time it was the last month of the year. Romans were not sticklers for accurate calendars, months got shorter and longer to fit political needs...and sometimes the months were so unsynced with seasons that they had to add an "intercalaris", an intercalary month, which usually came after February.
The name "February" also comes from the Roman festival "Februa" which was a purification ritual before spring. This tradition somehow survived up until now in the form of Candlemas (Chandeleur in French) and Groundhog Day. It kind of proves my point that February is super boring and the Ancients had to come up with something to entertain themselves. Yay, we're halfway through winter...let's celebrate...
Talking of Candlemas, or Chandeleur...in France and part of Belgium, it means pancake day (pancakes, ok, maybe February is not so lame after all...). The tradition is that if you flip a "crêpe" while holding a coin in the other hand, you'll have money all year. You're also supposed to leave one of the pancakes on top of a kitchen cabinet all year but, for some reasons, most people skip that part.

 Groundhog Day, Columbia Pictures
And if you haven't seen Groundhog Day, the film...do you even know what Groundhog  Day is? It's a festival in Pennsylvania, USA, where they publicly annoy a sleeping groundhog. If the groundhog sees its shadow, it means winter will last another 6 weeks...
It's a pretty cool movie...in which the main character keeps re-living the same day over and over again. Which is pretty much how I feel about February really...

9 comments:

Katerina said...

Interesting about the "history" of February. I am also impatiently waiting for every new minute of daylight and the days are getting visibly longer now, at least where I live.

StaroftheEast said...

I have nothing against any season or month but I get what you mean, especially if you live in West or North Europe, which I luckily don't (anymore) :).
Loved that movie, very weird but fun and frustrating at the same time.

Unknown said...

Very interesting information about February! For me February is a month of waiting... the spring!

Tina Lindholm Kanerva said...

For me it is the weather that determines how I like the month. I dislike any month where it rains too much, and right now February is not looking good at all. Rain and snow mixed – that's the worst.
Seen Groundhog Day a few times actually. It is funny.

Heyme said...

February is like Tuesdays. Weekend fun is over, Monday was still a haze, and now it is Tuesday, everything sucks, and still nearly the full workweek to go..

Nyuta said...

Agree with Heyme :)

AToM said...

For me February is the actual month on winter since the first two are about holidays and getting over holidays :)) And we also have snow which is a plus ;)

Stephanie Kilgast said...

I don't really care about seasons, but we made delicious crepes on Saturday already :D
And I totally loved that movie! Such a fun one :D

Unknown said...

Hmmm so i'll have to flip a crepe while holding a coin in the other hand. Will definitely do. :D