A Valentine's Day Fable

This morning I heard a Cardinal singing as I took seed out for the birds. This brought to mind a story I was once told about the origins of Valentine's Day, and the day's connection with the red bird Cardinalis caradinalis.

But, first, a little history. While Saint Valentine's Day appears to have been recognized by the Catholic church dating back to the early days of Christianity, with no fewer than three Saints named Valentine linked to the date of February 14th. While the greeting card industry has attempted to link at least one of the Saints to something of a tragic-romantic story that would establish him as the source of this day of eternal love, there is no basis in fact for these claims.

Historians tend to connect the celebration to a Roman pagan holiday of fertility that occurred in mid-February. But, it wasn't until 1382 that Geoffrey Chaucer became first person to link the feast of Saint Valentine's Day with romantic love, when he penned these lines (adapted from the old English):

For this was on Saint Valentine's Day

When every bird come there to choose his mate

A few years ago, a local man told me the story that he had always been told of Valentine's Day, and while I cannot find any support for it on the Internet, it does make sense when I put Chaucer together with the Cardinal's song.

The story is that February 14th was the typical day that male cardinals were heard singing to establish their territories and attract a mate for the season. The bright red of the bird and the cardinal's quest for a mate were translated by some romantic soul into the image of a red heart which stays with us to this day.

Each year since I first heard that story, I have noticed a male cardinal's song in mid-February. I wonder if Chaucer was inspired by that same song some 700+ years ago?

Memories of snows past...

My younger brother was born January 23, 1967, just before the BIG snow. I was just 4 at the time, but my memories of the giant mounds of snow - everywhere - are quite vivid.

The photo isn't of our house -- I can't find one of those -- but it is from the '67 snow. You have to look closely, but there is a boy standing on the pile of snow on the right side of the photo. (Doesn't that look like fun!)


Dad built a hill of snow at the side of the garage that made a sledding hill extending from the top of the garage on down. I have seen the pictures of my sister and I standing in our snow suits next to the giant hill, perhaps wondering where mom was, and why we were having to eat so many hard boiled eggs... (dad was not much of a cook)

We would have been too young to understand that mom was stuck at the hospital, having been conscripted to work as a nurse's aid since the hospital was short-staffed due to the storm! There was no way for dad to get to Evanston Hospital to bring her and our baby brother home.

I have a clear memory of the 1979 snow because we didn't have to go to school for at least a couple of days, so a friend and I put our snow pants on and went trudging through the town. We visited other friends, stopping in their homes for hot cocoa and cookies, and trying to talk them into joining us on our trek.

Today, the news reports are that a similar storm ("blizzard") is on its way Tuesday night and into Wednesday. Possibly 18 inches in 24 hours, on top of the 6 inches expected tonight. Sounds like a good reason for a snow day - or two!!

Enjoy!!

Why does it snow?

Do you ever wonder why it snows?

With the regular snow events that we've had since early December, I find myself thinking about snow - where it comes from and why it falls...

Well, the simple explanation is that we get snow when moisture falls from the clouds and the air is below freezing, so the water falls in a frozen state.

Actually, it is so cold up in the clouds that all rain starts out as snow, but then it thaws on the way down.

According to a short article on The Weather Predictor website, ice crystals form in clouds, and as they stick to each other, eventually they become heavy enough that they fall.

If the air is warm enough on the way down, the ice crystals (aka snow flakes) turn into rain drops. If the air temperature is just above freezing, the snowflakes partly melt and we get sleet. And if the air is below freezing, then we get snow!

Now, snow takes up a lot more space than rain. In fact, on average, a 10" snow fall, if melted, would yield about an inch of water. So, when we get a couple inches of snow, and traffic gets all messed up -- cars in the ditch, skidding on the slick pavement -- that is an amount of water equivalent to less than a quarter inch of rain.

Another Year Comes to a Close

January is just around the corner now.

A blanket of snow covers the ground, insulating the earth during the cold of winter.

Nuthatches, juncos and chickadees are now regulars at the birdfeeders, keeping up their energy for the cold months ahead.

Resolutions are being made. Year end donations are being given. Holiday decorations are coming down.

It is a time when many of us reflect on the year just past -- and marvel at how much faster this year passed than years prior to this one. "Where did the time go?" "What did I accomplish this year?" are some of the laments heard.

Some reflection is good - lessons learned, friendships renewed, pounds lost. Too much reflecting can become dangerous -- dwelling on worries and regrets, all those "what ifs" and "if onlys" that we carry around with us.

As one thinks back on events passed, remember to keep an eye to the future - to the times ahead. Rather than worrying about the friends you didn't contact this year, resolve to make contact in 2011. Instead of beating oneself up for mistakes made this year, give yourself a break, and resolve to do better next year -- you can't change the past, but you can sure do something about tomorrow!

Wishing you all peace and happiness in the new year!

The Reason for the Season

Today, December 21, 2010, is the official Winter Solstice - the day when the gradual shortening of days turns into a gradual lengthening of days - until

the Summer Solstice in late June.

The official moment when the switch occurs is about 11:30 pm today - well, 11:30 pm in England, so that would be about 5:30 pm here!

The Solstice has had significance to people dating back to early days, as evidenced by ancient structures such as Stonehenge in England which was built in such a way as to allow precise alignment of the sun on Summer and Winter Solstice days, and other significant astronomical events.

The date of December 25th was designated as the official date of Winter Solstice on the first Julian Calendar produced in 45 BC - the Julian Calendar (named for the Emperor Julius Caesar), was still in wide use across the globe until the 20th Century. (Today, the Gregorian Calendar is used -- the difference, and the reason for the change will have to be the subject of a future post!)

This time of year has been important to many people for a long, long time, and is still important today to peoples in Iran (Persian), Guatemala (Mayan), India (Hindu), Ireland (Celtic), Sweden (Norse). East Asian peoples saw this as a time of growing positive energy as the amount of daylight grew. Ancient Japanese custom taught that the Winter Solstice was the time when the Sun Goddess emerged from a cave to return sunlight to the world.

Even the traditional evergreen trees and boughs can be traced to early pagan practices that saw the evergreens as a symbols of eternal life since they did not die like other plants during the winter.

So, as we decorate our homes with trees and gifts, we continue traditions that have been handed down by many peoples for many, many generations!