It is February again and some people, in some places in the Northern Hemisphere, mark this as a time when some animals emerge from their winter dens. These events were viewed as omens that would predict the season ahead. In some European countries, watching the behavior of animals (badgers in particular) on February 2 to see if they emerged or returned to their dens predicted the coming of spring. It was believed that animals had a far more acute sense of the weather. Many people still believe that. If that badger emerged but decided to return to its den, it meant that there was still a long winter ahead.
Americans are probably more familiar with the holiday created by German immigrants in Pennsylvania. They didn’t find many badgers in Pennsylvania but there were a lot of groundhogs. Groundhog Day goes back to the mid-1800s. Though today it has become highly commercialized, the original idea was to continue the Candlemas Day tradition of watching a denning animal emerge from its winter quarters. In what I always thought to be reverse logic, if it is sunny and it sees its shadow and goes back in, it is another six weeks of winter rest. If the animal emerges on a cloudy day with no shadow, it will remain out and the rest of winter weather will be moderate.
There are other early February special days. Today is a “cross-quarter” day in the solar calendar. That means it falls exactly between a solstice and an equinox, and so we are halfway there in turning the wheel of the year. This is the ancient Celtic holiday of Imbolc. It honored Brigid, goddess of fire, poetry, healing, and childbirth. This was the day that she brought the healing power of the sun back to the world. Imbolc comes from the Old Irish imbolg, meaning “in the belly.” It was the time when ewes became pregnant to deliver spring lambs.
As with many pagan holidays, February 2 became a Christian holiday called Candlemas Day which marked the presentation of Jesus at the Temple 40 days after Christmas and is marked by the blessing of candles. The day before, February 1, is Saint Brigid’s feast day.
Saint Brigid’s cross
According to an old Candlemas verse that seems to agree with the groundhog tradition: If Candlemas day be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight. But if Candlemas day bring clouds and rain, Winter is gone and won’t come again.
How was the weather in your neighborhood today? More winter or an early spring?
Today is the feast day of St. Nicholas of Myra. He was an early Christian bishop of the ancient Greek maritime city of Myra (now Turkey) during the time of the Roman Empire.
Many miracles attributed to his intercession led to his sainthood. His reputation evolved among the faithful and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving led to the traditional model of Santa Claus (“Saint Nick”),
Sinterklaas arriving in the Dutch town of Schiedam Image: WikimediaSaint Nicholas Day is observed on December 5/6 in Western Christian countries and December 19 in Eastern Christian countries on the Old Calendar. This day is celebrated as a Christian festival, but along with the attendance of Mass or other worship services, there are gifting traditions.
In Europe, especially in Germany and Poland, boys would dress as bishops begging alms for the poor.
In Ukraine, children wait for St. Nicholas to come and to put a present under their pillows. Gifts traditionally are given to children who were good during the year. Children who behaved badly may expect to find a twig or a piece of coal under their pillows.
In the Netherlands, Dutch children put out a clog shoe filled with hay and a carrot for Saint Nicholas’ horse. “Santa Claus” is itself derived in part from the Dutch Sinterklaas, the saint’s name in that language.
Some American children leave their shoes in the foyer on Saint Nicholas Eve in hope that Saint Nicholas will place some gifts or coins on the soles. The American Santa Claus, as well as the British Father Christmas, derive from Saint Nicholas and some traditions from other countries have been passed on, but the gift-giving tradition has been moved to Christmas Eve or Day rather than Saint Nicholas Day.
Besides Sinterklaas, earlier names for the legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas as a patron saint of children include De Sint (“The Saint”), De Goede Sint (“The Good Saint”), and De Goedheiligman (“The Good Holy Man”) in Dutch; Saint Nicolas in French; Sinteklaas in West Frisian; Sinterklaos in Limburgs; Saint-Nikloi in West Flemish; Kleeschen and Zinniklos in Luxembourgish; and Sankt Nikolaus or Nikolaus in German.
Of course, there is no hard evidence of any Nicholas-like person’s miracles and the legend doesn’t stand up to scientific analysis. And most of what Americans now associate with Santa Claus (flying reindeer, down the chimney, and other supernatural powers) comes from the marketing of the commercialized version of Christmas.
Most people don’t know that while Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of children, he is also the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, prostitutes, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, and students in various cities and countries around Europe.
Some of the traditions followed in other countries bear little resemblance to the legendary St. Nick we know in the United States.
In Italy, San Nicola) is the patron of the city of Bari (where it is believed that his stolen remains are found) and their celebration is called the Festa di San Nicola. That occurs on May 7–9 of May and includes the relics of the saint carried on a boat on the sea in front of the city with many boats following (Festa a mare).
Also, since San Nicola is said to protect children and virgins, on this day in December the ritual of Rito delle nubili finds unmarried women seeking a husband at an early-morning Mass, in which they have to turn around a column 7 times.
My own childhood included not only Santa Claus and St. Nicholas but also the terrifying Krampus. My mother’s family was from Austria and my father’s side was from Austria-Hungary (though Slovak by language). In those places, as well as in Bavaria and Tyrol, Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, and Croatia, this creature with Germanic folklore roots appears.
A person dressed as Krampus in Salzburg (via Wikimedia)
You may have heard that Santa Claus keeps a list of who is naughty and who is nice, but Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure described as “half-goat, half-demon” who accompanies St. Nick. This demonic figure of the Krampus has the job of punishing children during the Yule season who have misbehaved. When I asked my mother how he punishes kids she sais “You don’t want to know.” He also sometimes captures the really naughty children in his sack and carries them away to his lair.
In some of these countries, the eve of St. Nick is called Krampus Night or Krampusnacht and that’s when he appears. In modern times, young men will dress up as the Krampus before St. Nicholas Day frightening children with rusty chains and bells. Sometimes accompanying St. Nicholas and sometimes on his own, Krampus visits homes and businesses.
When the Saint himself appears nowadays, he is usually in the Eastern Rite vestments of a bishop, and he carries a ceremonial staff.
Nicholas gives gifts. When not terrorizing children, Krampus supplies coal and ruten bundles. That is an object with pagan origins that may have had significance in pre-Christian initiation rites. They are bundles of birch branches that Krampus carries and with which he occasionally swats children.
Hopefully, you did not send or receive any cards this week like this one from the early 1900s that reads “Greetings from Krampus!”
Although I always say that Halloween is my least favorite holiday, I am fascinated by many of the older traditions and legends surrounding it and this time of year. The part that doesn’t interest me is the modern-day celebrations.
I wrote several poems about this Halloween time. One is about today’s topic of “Soul Cakes,” and also several about this time of year, called by some Halloweentide, and poems about Halloween itself. And I have written about those things on this blog too. Do I really dislike Halloween?
But today I am writing about the soul cake, also known as a soulmass-cake. It is a small round cake. that looks more like a shortbread biscuit with sweet spices, and they are traditionally made for Halloween, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day to commemorate the dead in many Christian traditions.
The cakes, often simply referred to as souls, are given out to those who were once known as “soulers.” These were mainly children and the poor who would go from door to door during the days of Allhallowtide, which is not just the day we call Halloween. The soulers would sing and say prayers “for the souls of the givers and their friends” especially the souls of deceased relatives, thought to be in Purgatory.
This practice in England dates to the medieval period, and was continued there until the 1930s. I read that in places like Sheffield and Cheshire, the custom has continued into modern times. The practice of giving and eating soul cakes, if not the dor-to-door practices, continues in Portugal (where it is known as Pão-por-Deus and occurs on All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day), as well as the Philippines (where it is known as Pangangaluwa and occurs on All Hallows’ Eve).
In the U.S. it can be connected to trick-or-treating, though stripped of religious context. Some U.S. churches, during Allhallowtide, have invited people to come to receive sweets and ask to pray for the souls of their friends and relatives. I also read that some Catholic and Lutheran parishioners have their soul cakes blessed by a priest before being distributed. The month of November is a time dedicated especially to praying for the Holy Souls.
It seems odd to me that the term “Soul Cakes” is considered a corruption of the phrase “Wassail Cakes” since the Wassail/Christmas season is almost two months away, but I also found that in some places souling was done at Christmas too.
An illustration from “St. Nicholas: An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks”, December 1882, saying that the rich gave soul cakes to the poor on Halloween and Christmas, and in return, the recipients prayed for the souls of the givers and their friends.
The cakes themselves are usually filled with allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger or other sweet spices, raisins, or currants, and before baking are topped with the mark of a cross to signify that these were alms.
One odd tradition associated with this is that the soulers visiting houses would carry a hollowed-out turnip lantern with a candle inside which represented a soul trapped in purgatory. In England, some soulers went out in long black cloaks or in disguise. Ghosts, skeletons, and even people dressed as saints were considered to be showing tribute to saints or the spirits of those who had died.
Bonfires and candles also figure into Hallowtide, suggesting the Purgation of souls by holy fire. In the English countryside, people lit bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Candles were a smaller and safer alternative to bonfires. In Lancashire, candles were carried between 11 pm and midnight on Halloween in a procession up the hills in a custom known as “lating the witches” because if the candles burned continuously then the witches’ powers would not affect the candle holder. The words ‘lating’ and ‘leeting’ are derived from the Saxon word ‘leoht’ meaning light.
Some of these medieval traditions live on in modern practices, though their original meanings and purposes are largely lost to modern practitioners.
A turnip lantern – not unlike a modern-day Jack-o-lantern.
A few years ago on Independence Day (AKA the 4th of July), I was sitting in my backyard when I heard a robin carrying on quite loudly near me. I assumed it was a mother robin because there was a young robin hopping on the ground near me unable to fly. I suppose it could have been a father robin, but we always seem to assume it’s the mother protecting the young.
My neighbor, Frank, came out on his deck. “Is the robin over there?” he asked. “Yeah. It can’t seem to fly,” I called back. Turns out there were two young robins on the ground. We found their nest in a small tree between our yards. We both scooped up the young robins and Frank climbed up on a ladder to put them back in the nest. The mother robin swooped down. Protecting her nest? No. She pushed those little ones right back out.
It was independence day in that nest. Ready or not, those kids were going to learn to fly.
On Independence Day 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved to a cabin on Walden Pond. Ralph Waldo Emerson owned some land near Concord, Massachusetts, and let Thoreau build a cabin there. He stayed for two years, two months, and two days.
Thoreau chose the day to start his attempt “to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” He was mostly independent but he wasn’t all that apart from civilization. The nest, Concord, was only a mile and a half away, and he often walked into town. He worked part-time as a surveyor, and his mother usually sent him back to the cabin with some home cooking.
He stayed for a little more than two years and he kept a journal. A form of the journal was published as Walden; or Life in the Woods, in 1854.
Sometimes you have to get thrown out of the nest. Hopefully, someone is watching out for you nearby.
Today is Flag Day in the U.S. It is one in a series of holidays that seem to be forgotten or misunderstood.
On this day in 1777, the government officially adopted the Stars and Stripes as our national flag. The 50 stars on today’s flag represent the nation’s 50 states and the 13 stripes represent the 13 original states. The color red signifies hardiness and valor; white, purity and innocence; and blue, vigilance, perseverance, and justice.
You probably were taught that Betsy Ross made the first U.S. flag but the history of its creation is not so simple and definitive. (more here)
In 1914, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane gave a Flag Day speech in which he repeated the words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: “I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself.”
The first time the American flag was flown on a foreign fort was in Libya in 1805. In 1909, Robert Peary placed a flag at the North Pole. In 1963, Barry Bishop placed the flag on top of Mount Everest. In 1969, Neil Armstrong put the flag on the surface of the Moon.
Armed Forces Day is celebrated annually on the third Saturday of May and Armed Forces Week begins on the second Saturday of May and ends on the third Sunday of May. It was this past weekend. I think this is another holiday that has been forgotten or misunderstood by many Americans.
I don’t think many Americans could tell you the difference between Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day, and Veterans Day. They may think first of Memorial Day as the start of summer. Memorial Day honors all military dead. Veteran’s Day honors all those living who served in the military. Armed Forces Day honors all who currently serve in the military.
I was in high school and college in the days of the Vietnam War and the military draft, and the armed forces were not spoken of very highly by most young people. War was not something anyone wanted and many of us questioned why we were in Vietnam. The wars we studied in history from WWII and earlier seemed somehow more justified than Vietnam and Korea.
In the United States, it was first observed on May 20, 1950, and had been created under President Harry S. Truman who led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank military members for their patriotic service. It celebrates the five U.S. military branches – the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Coast Guard.
The first Armed Forces Day was celebrated by parades, open houses, receptions and air shows. I saw no celebrations anywhere near me. The longest continuously running Armed Forces Day Parade in the U.S. is held in Chattanooga and this year marked its 74th parade.
, in 1854.
Weekends in Paradelle 