39 and sunny this morning. Rain expected in the afternoon.
What a difference a day or two makes. Sunday was bone-chilling cold, 5 degrees in the morning. Today it's a balmy 39 and the sun is shining. Yesterday was sunny too, and most of the snow, and all of the ice, is gone. The flat is still snow-covered, as it is northeast-facing, and so is the hilly part of our driveway, but there is a feel of spring in the air. I need to get out and rake the leaves from my flower beds to see if any brave bulbs have dared to push through yet. Last year, I think we had daffodils blooming now, or within a week? That won't be happening this year for sure. But that's okay. All things, in their time.
Today is the start of Ember Days, as my friend Sherrell reminded us this morning on Facebook. Ember days, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac are three days around the beginning of each season to mark the change. For the current Ember Days, the almanac says, "Spring: the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after Ash Wednesday, to give thanks for the rebirth of nature and for the gift of light (usually flowers are offered at this time)."
The Ember Days for the rest of the year are, according to the almanac:
Summer: Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after Pentecost, to give thanks for the wheat crop.
Fall: the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the Feast of the Holy Cross (September 14), to give thanks for the grape harvest.
Winter: the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the Feast of St. Lucy (December 13), during the third week of Advent, to give thanks for the olive crop.
Wikipedia offers the following rhymes as mnenonics:
Fasting days and Emberings be
Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie.
"Lenty, Penty, Crucy, Lucy" is a shorter mnemonic for when they fall.
Folklore has it that the weather of these three days will foretell the weather for next 3 months. So if today is any indication, it should be a beautiful Spring.
A diagram of the Ember Days in a manuscript made at Thorney Abbey, c. 1110
(Oxford, St John's College MS. 17, f. 24v) . Found on the blog, A Clerk of Oxford.
These days were designated as fasting days by the Catholic Church in the 3rd century. The dates were loosely tied to those of the solstices and equinoxes, and some believe--me included--that ember days were another of the Church's ways of slowly pulling people away from the old pagan rituals connected to these important dates. Consider Christmas, for example. So many of the old ways are woven into traditional Christian celebrations today--the tree, the greenery, etc--that the origins of those traditions are forgotten.
Some also believe that Ember Days evolved from old Roman observances. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "The Romans were originally given to agriculture, and their native gods belonged to the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their deities: in June for a bountiful harvest, in September for a rich vintage, and in December for the seeding.'
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word ember derives from "Middle English eymere, from Old Norse eimyrja; akin to Old English ǣmerge ashes, Latin urere to burn." One source noted that ashes were often scattered on people's heads on holy days like these, so perhaps the custom of Ash Wednesday is also tied to ember days.
I remember my neighbors here in Appalachia saying that ember days were good days to burn brush. If that is true, then we have a big job ahead of us as we clean up the downed branches from the ice and snow storms of last week.
Sources:
_-_Summer_(one_of_four_seasons_paintings).jpg%E2%80%99){kind=link}
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! Comments are moderated so may not appear immediately, but be assured that I read and enjoy each and every word you write, and will post them as quickly as possible.