"February was named after the Latin term februum, which means purification; in Finnish, the month is called helmikuu, meaning 'month of the pearl'; when snow melts on tree branches, it forms droplets, and as these freeze again; historical names for February include the Anglo-Saxon terms solmonath (mud month) and kale-monath (named for cabbage)"
I wonder if there are any purification rituals involving cabbages frozen into muddy fields. . .
(ps I'm counting on Christopher to fill us in on the wrongness of the fish in the sky!)
4 comments:
You omitted the Celtic word "Freezin".
my fingers had succumb to frostbite at that stage. . .
I rather like the Finnish thing--month of the pearl...... That's kinda cool.
And kinda fitting for this midwest state. And extremely fitting for the few warm(er) days followed by a blizzard warning....which is what we're under at the moment.
Purification sorta--it blankets everything in that pristine whiteness and sparkles.
It is pretty.
And cold.
And windy.
And--go figure--snowing. :-/
I'm sure those wellies ought to be involved in a little purification.
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