Weather - St. Romanus bright
and clear, indicates a goodly year
In the territory of Lyons,
on Mount Jura, the demise of St. Romanus, abbot, who was the first to lead the
eremitical life there. His
reputation for virtues and miracles brought under his guidance numerous monks.
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The Martyrology also
remembers St. Caerealis of
Alexandria, patron of breakfast from a box, of which nothing more is known, not
even the year that he was martyred with Pupulus, Caius, and Sarpion.
[I made up the part about his patronage]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is Kalevala Day in Finland.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This being the eve of the
first of March and St. David’s day, there are a few superstitions and
traditions:
“If you wish to see a vision
of your future spouse, walk silently three times around the leek bed tonight.”
(No word yet on whether the vision shows
up in the leek bed or in your bed (in your dreams, of course!))
“If you walk in the
churchyard at midnight, you will see the corpse-candles floating above the
graves of those families who will suffer a death in the coming year.” [The only person who might be interested is
the sexton, who can plan his annual budget accordingly. Oh, and heirs, of course. Although the candles don’t exactly say
who in the family is going to die…]
An Albanian tradition is to
throw a clod of earth in which a few
drops of wolf’s milk is kneaded, at the door of the barn so that the cows
and goats will milk well that year…
[okay, who volunteers to milk the
wolf? It’s bad enough when Bossy
doesn’t care to be milked – she merely plants a hoof amidships and calmly
watches you stagger away in pain.
Madame Wolf has other ways of showing her displeasure to those who take
unwarrantable liberties with her person, most of which involve her well-honed teeth.]
Another Albanian tradition
is to wash with wine to prevent any vermin from touching them [take note, you who are terrified of bed-bugs]
and then impale a flea on a new needle so that no other flea will dare to come
near them [pour encourager les autres, no
doubt].
The Albanians have the coolest traditions.
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Artwork:
The Capitoline Wolf, Musei
Capitolini, Rome, Italy, swiped from Wikipedia
