February
04/02/19 04:31
I can still remember the spelling test that consisted of the names of the twelve months. I struggled the most with February. That silent r really got me hung up. Once I mastered that word, I didn’t have any trouble getting the rest of the months right. I wasn’t a stellar speller for most of my elementary school career. I wasn’t particularly concerned with spelling and, after the fourth or fifth grade I didn’t put much effort into penmanship, either. The combination was that I did not think of myself as a top student. I was just average. That changed when I got older and I gained more confidence in my abilities.
Like other months, February kept the same name in the Gregorian calendar that it had in the Julian Calendar. Like January, February was added to the older 10-month Roman Calendar when the shift was made to a 12-month year. Thus its name is a bit newer than those of the other 10 months. This was, in part a semantic shift, as the Old Roman calendar acknowledged that the time passed. They simply considered the winter to be a monthless period of the year. The winter season was placed at the end of the year and the year was thought to start with March.
Once the months of January and February were added to the calendar, around 450 BCE, they kept changing the number of days in the month in an attempt to make the months remain static in the seasons of the year. The idea of leap days and leap years hadn’t yet occurred to calendar makers. At one time the Roman calendar held February to 23 days, with a intercalary month inserted after February to realign the year with the seasons. The number of days of that month varied. The Julain calendar retained the intercalary month, but only three of every four years, with that month skipped every forth month, beginning the concept of leap years.
The name of the month comes from the Latin februa, which means “purifications.” The month was seen as a time for people to undergo rites of purification in preparation for the spring and new life that was to follow. Like many other elements of our calendar, it assumes the climate of the northern hemisphere. February can be the coldest month of the year even though the days have begun to lengthen.
The ancients believed that the month was a time for purification.
It isn’t a bad idea.
People suffering from seasonal affective disorder struggle with the months when the days are shorter and February can be especially difficult because it comes at the end of the season of short days. By March we can sense the lengthening of days and the warming of our part of the planet. It makes sense that a month of cleansing and rededication can help lift the spirits.
From ancient times, people have come up with rituals to cleanse and purify the soul. Just as we bathe to cleanse our bodies, certain practices were thought to purify that which cannot be seen. These rituals involved eating or not eating certain foods, ritual baths and other ceremonies that involved water and scrubbing, and practices of meditation and structured thought. The idea is that there are some things that pollute or debase the human spirit and those things need to be eliminated or purged from our lives.
Most of us have experienced a sense of wanting to rid ourselves of a annoying habit or some part of our identity that we want to change. It takes more than a show of will, however, to make lasting change. Perhaps that is why the process of purification became a repeating cycle, something that was done each year as opposed to a once in a lifetime ritual such as baptism. The Christian tradition of baptism, rooted in more ancient rites of purification, does not need to be repeated. Once the sacrament is performed it is permanent according to Christian practice and tradition.
February, however, comes every year. Personally I experience that as a good thing. February is the birth month of several people whom I deeply love. Our family has celebrated February births for all of my life. The great uncle for whom I was named was born on February 2 and I have a niece who shares his birthday. My wife, grandson and a nephew all have February birthdays. And February is the month of Valentine’s Day, a time to celebrate love and the sacrifices people made for love and marriage.
We will, however, need a new tradition for Valentine’s Day this year. Those tiny conversation hearts with the silly slogans printed on them won’t be available this year. The company that makes them says they will be available in 2020, but will not be sold this year. The company went out of business in 2018, but promises to have the product back on the market next year. The candies, however, have little flavor and a long shelf life, so there will probably be some old ones from previous years around and there are other companies that have made imitation conversation hearts, so if you are so tongue tied that you can’t find the right words to express you love, you can probably find another way to get the message to the one you love.
Maybe 2019 is a year for the purification of candy conversation hearts. It is finally time to get all of the old dried up candies out of the system so that we can start fresh in 2020.
Whether we are talking about the weather, spelling or the challenge or remembering its length, February can be challenging. But it is upon us and so I wish you courage in the days to come. I keep reminding myself that spring will come and that there are plenty of reasons to go outside even when the weather is cold. Bundle up, keep moving and be careful. May February be a month of purification for us all.
Like other months, February kept the same name in the Gregorian calendar that it had in the Julian Calendar. Like January, February was added to the older 10-month Roman Calendar when the shift was made to a 12-month year. Thus its name is a bit newer than those of the other 10 months. This was, in part a semantic shift, as the Old Roman calendar acknowledged that the time passed. They simply considered the winter to be a monthless period of the year. The winter season was placed at the end of the year and the year was thought to start with March.
Once the months of January and February were added to the calendar, around 450 BCE, they kept changing the number of days in the month in an attempt to make the months remain static in the seasons of the year. The idea of leap days and leap years hadn’t yet occurred to calendar makers. At one time the Roman calendar held February to 23 days, with a intercalary month inserted after February to realign the year with the seasons. The number of days of that month varied. The Julain calendar retained the intercalary month, but only three of every four years, with that month skipped every forth month, beginning the concept of leap years.
The name of the month comes from the Latin februa, which means “purifications.” The month was seen as a time for people to undergo rites of purification in preparation for the spring and new life that was to follow. Like many other elements of our calendar, it assumes the climate of the northern hemisphere. February can be the coldest month of the year even though the days have begun to lengthen.
The ancients believed that the month was a time for purification.
It isn’t a bad idea.
People suffering from seasonal affective disorder struggle with the months when the days are shorter and February can be especially difficult because it comes at the end of the season of short days. By March we can sense the lengthening of days and the warming of our part of the planet. It makes sense that a month of cleansing and rededication can help lift the spirits.
From ancient times, people have come up with rituals to cleanse and purify the soul. Just as we bathe to cleanse our bodies, certain practices were thought to purify that which cannot be seen. These rituals involved eating or not eating certain foods, ritual baths and other ceremonies that involved water and scrubbing, and practices of meditation and structured thought. The idea is that there are some things that pollute or debase the human spirit and those things need to be eliminated or purged from our lives.
Most of us have experienced a sense of wanting to rid ourselves of a annoying habit or some part of our identity that we want to change. It takes more than a show of will, however, to make lasting change. Perhaps that is why the process of purification became a repeating cycle, something that was done each year as opposed to a once in a lifetime ritual such as baptism. The Christian tradition of baptism, rooted in more ancient rites of purification, does not need to be repeated. Once the sacrament is performed it is permanent according to Christian practice and tradition.
February, however, comes every year. Personally I experience that as a good thing. February is the birth month of several people whom I deeply love. Our family has celebrated February births for all of my life. The great uncle for whom I was named was born on February 2 and I have a niece who shares his birthday. My wife, grandson and a nephew all have February birthdays. And February is the month of Valentine’s Day, a time to celebrate love and the sacrifices people made for love and marriage.
We will, however, need a new tradition for Valentine’s Day this year. Those tiny conversation hearts with the silly slogans printed on them won’t be available this year. The company that makes them says they will be available in 2020, but will not be sold this year. The company went out of business in 2018, but promises to have the product back on the market next year. The candies, however, have little flavor and a long shelf life, so there will probably be some old ones from previous years around and there are other companies that have made imitation conversation hearts, so if you are so tongue tied that you can’t find the right words to express you love, you can probably find another way to get the message to the one you love.
Maybe 2019 is a year for the purification of candy conversation hearts. It is finally time to get all of the old dried up candies out of the system so that we can start fresh in 2020.
Whether we are talking about the weather, spelling or the challenge or remembering its length, February can be challenging. But it is upon us and so I wish you courage in the days to come. I keep reminding myself that spring will come and that there are plenty of reasons to go outside even when the weather is cold. Bundle up, keep moving and be careful. May February be a month of purification for us all.