Brighter days on way but watch out for groundhog

Country Living with Francis Farragher

Poor old February might have a slightly unfashionable ring to it, apart of course from Valentine’s Day when we’re all supposed to be miraculously transformed into creatures of romance, but to me it’s a most uplifting time of the year when the first shoots of growth start to appear and light at last starts to gain a foothold in the enemy territory of darkness.

Whether next Sunday, February 1 is the first day of Spring or not is a matter of some debate, but from our early schooldays, we were always taught that the sight of the rooks starting to build their nests during the second month of the year, was a true indication that the season of growth and rebirth had arrived at our doorsteps again.

The meteorologists however don’t concur and consider February to be our final month of the winter season but the earlier sunrises and the stretch in the evenings, especially if the weather is benign, are good enough indicators to me that brighter times are on the way.

Candlemas Day, February 2, was one of the great traditional church landmarks and still retains a niche on the calendar of many Catholics when the candles are blessed, while the following day, the feast of St. Blaise, many of the faithful also make the trek to the place of worship for the blessing of the throats.

The Candlemas feast has its origins in the very root of modern Christianity, marking the date when the baby Jesus was presented at the Temple after his mother had undergone the traditional 40 days of purification following the birth of a child. It also marks the last day of Christmas from a Christian point of view although mention of ‘the C word’ in the latter days of January is akin to thinking back to childhood summer holidays.

Only over-ripening fruit in mid-summer seems to have a shorter shelf life than Christmas has in the passing days of January. As with most traditions and customs, the weather always seems to get intertwined with them, and over the centuries, the February 2 date, has been established as a day that will ‘tell the tale’ of what’s in store for us for the rest of the year.

If we were to put our faith in custom, lore and old mythologies, a wet and wintry day on Monday next would be very good news for the coming Spring season. There’s a myriad of old rhymes about the importance of the Candlemas weather but all with same theme.

“If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, There’ll be two winters in the year” or “For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, So far will the snow swirl until May; For as the snow blows on Candlemas Day, So far will the sun shine before May,” sum up the stock placed on the weather conditions of February 2.

The date does have a significance in terms of ‘the change in the year’ in that it falls almost exactly half-way between the Winter Solstice of December 21 and the Spring Equinox of March 21, but in the United States, everyone knows the date as Groundhog Day.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.