|
February 2005
Dear Visitor,
Whew! Made it. Just. The first week
of the month I said, and the first week of the
month it
is. I’ve
been burrowing in books, reminding myself about February
things, and finding out some others. Like, for instance,
that racehorses tend to be born in February. Well – between
February and May. But despite that, all racehorses
celebrate their first birthdays on the 1st of January,
a Fascinating Fact that I forgot last month, when
I was so short of them. I’ve known that for
years, but I’ve never found out why, so I hope
you’re not waiting, open-mouthed, for an explanation.
And another Fascinating Fact unavoidably held over
from last month (because I didn’t discover
it until this month) is that though Rio de Janeiro
means ‘river of January’, there isn’t
a river. Boy, I bet that’s got you excited.
And again, I don’t know why they called it
that. It’s got something to do with the Portuguese
explorers arriving on 1 January 1502, but I don’t
know why the river bit.
Before I move on to February, I’ll just tell
you that January’s competition winners have
been notified, and will get their prizes as soon
as possible. And I think you must like the two first
prizes deal, because I got a bumper entry. Or perhaps
Christmas got you into all that quiz and competition
stuff, and you hadn’t got out of the habit.
Have another go this month.
And Unlucky for Some came out in the US. I’ve
already seen a couple of reviews, which is good.
And so, incidentally, were they, which is even better.
OK, what do I know about February? Well, it’s
the only month that doesn’t have a fixed number
of days, but I suspect you already know that. And
I imagine you know that women can propose to men
with propriety on the 29th. Why has February got
this eccentricity? Well, it’s all to do with
the lunar year, and everything getting out of kilter
if you don’t mess about with the calendar every
4 and 400 years.
January and February were the last two months to
be added to the calendar, since the Romans considered
winter not to have any months at all. The change
was made by Numa Pompilius, and his February had
29 days and 30 in a leap year. Augustus is alleged
to have removed a day from February and added it
to August (which he had renamed from Sextilis to
honour himself) in order that July (named for Julius
Caesar) wouldn’t have more days than his month.
Whatever the reason, it ended up with 28 days and
29 in a leap year. And it was the last month in the
Roman calendar, since the year began in March. And
that’s another thing that’s always puzzled
me – if the Roman year began in March, making
January the penultimate month, why did they name
it after the god of beginnings? But there, I should
have given you that Intriguing Thought last month,
shouldn’t I? You have my permission to remain
unintrigued.
February is named after Februus, the Roman god of
purification. Its equivalent in the French Revolutionary
calendar is Pluviose (rain month); the Dutch used
to call it Spokkelmaand (vegetation month), and the
Anglo-Saxons called it Solmonath which according
to Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
meant ‘mud month’, and according to Wikipedia
meant ‘sun month’. Were the Anglo-Saxons
likely to use a Latin prefix? Again, I don’t
know. But I think I’m with Brewer’s on
that one. With (almost) one week of February 2005
gone, it seems to me to be Exactlythesameasjanuarymonth.
I had hoped to get a photograph of the tree with
a light dusting of snow, or at least with frost-lined
branches, but as you can see, it’s indistinguishable
from last month’s photo.
According to Brewer’s a once-popular name
for the snowdrop was Fair Maid of February, but February’s
official flower is apparently the primrose, and its
birthstone the amethyst. Its star signs are Aquarius
and Pisces, but the sun actually passes through Capricorn
and Aquarius. Isn’t in time the astrological
equivalent of the pope got to work on the Zodiac
to bring into line with what’s actually happening
in the heavens?
February’s most notable day in non-leap years
has to be the 14th, of course. There seems to be
considerable confusion about St Valentine. Some sources
say there are three saints called Valentine, any
one of whom has a claim; others say that Valentine
was a martyred bishop who has since been omitted
from the calendar of saints’ days for the serious
offence of having been non-existent.
Everyone seems to agree that mid-February has celebrated
love and fertility since the most ancient of times,
and that a saint called Valentine had his feast day
on the 14th of February, which coincided more or
less with the Roman festival of Lupercalia, when
goats were sacrificed at the cave where Romulus and
Remus were suckled by the wolf.
Apparently, young men then ran round the boundaries
of the city carrying whips made from the goats’ hides,
and a blow from such a whip was supposed to cure
sterility in women. Now, of course, Valentine’s
Day is a huge industry, coming second only to Christmas
in the card-sending stakes, and has the florists,
the restaurateurs, the jewellers, the chocolate manufacturers
and the champagne-growers rubbing their hands. It’s
a great big commercial free-for-all, but it’s
better than a slap in the face with a dead goat,
isn’t it?
The Russian February Revolution in 1917 actually
took place in March. This time I do know why – Russia
were still using the Julian calendar, and were running
several days behind the rest of us, not going over
to the Gregorian calendar until after the October
Revolution (which happened in November, of course)
later that year. And – still in Russia – remember
Nicholas I from last month, who said that Russia
had two generals in which she could confide, Generals
January and February? He actually used their French
names, presumably for Napoleon’s benefit -
Janvier and Février. He died of a cold in
February 1855 and Punch published a cartoon with
the caption ‘General Février turned
traitor’.
Bruegel's ‘Hunters in the Snow’ (pictured)
was originally called ‘February’, and
Julian Symons the crime writer wrote a book called ‘The
Thirty First of February’, but I can’t
find anything else. No films. And just Barbara Dixon
again with ‘January, February’ in the
matter of pop songs. I don’t know what I’m
going to do without her next month.
That’s it – a lot more than I managed
to dig up about January!
See you in March,
Love,
Jill
Top
of Page
|
