Congratulations! You made it through January, a month many consider the cruelest one. You may not agree, but January unquestionably is the coolest one, at least in the northern hemisphere. So, we exit the month that left us with hangovers of a year we’d just as soon forget and plunge into . . . the weirdest month.
In February, we get 1) President’s Day – a holiday that isn’t a holiday unless you’re a federal employee and is the time retailers have decreed is when houseware sales should occur (?); 2) Groundhog’s Day – a holiday that is a non-holiday unless you live in Punxsutawney, PA, where an innocent groundhog gets drug out of its warm and peaceful burrow once a year to get its picture taken by dozens of photographers while being held by a man in a silly hat; and 3) St. Valentine’s Day, a holiday with religious roots and dedicated to courtly love that absolutely no one gets off. The man for whom the holiday is named was a 3rd century Roman who happens to be the patron saint of . . . . . (wait for it) . . . . (you’ll never guess) . . . . EPILEPSY (look it up). So how did February 14 become sweethearts’ day? You don’t want to know. At least February is the shortest month, but even that is weird: 28 days in three years out of every four when it has 29, except only in century years evenly divisible by four when . . . oh never mind.
February is the purgatory of months – too far away from the start of spring (no matter what the groundhog says) and struggling to escape the last clutches of winter. In many U.S. locales, February is the time of greatest snowfall, since warmer air holds more moisture and . . . this is turning into a meteorology lesson.
You may know February is Black History Month, but were you aware it is also Canned Food Month, Dog Training Education Month, National Bird Feeding Month, National Cat Health Month, and Pet Dental Health Month? Other activities merit only days of the month and they include National Serpent Day (Feb. 1), National Shower With a Friend Day (Feb. 5), and National Toothache Day (Feb. 9). No mention of February days, though, would be complete without recognizing the most visible days of the month, Groundhog’s Day (Feb. 2) and Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14). The shadows cast by these days are large, as witnessed by National Tater Tot Day and National Organ Donor Day which share those same dates respectively. Sort of like having a birthday on Christmas.
0 Comments