The season of romance. Candy, flowers, cards, red, pink white. Lace and bows. Sure, February has long been the month to celebrate love. Even before St. Valentine ( at least one of the three) died in 270, the month was the one in which Faunus- the fertility god, was celebrated as spring was near, and the fertility of the ground and livestock was critical for living another year.
But, this is not the only season of February. This is the season for Candlemas Day, cutting of timbers, and cleaning the soup pot. A whole season for cleaning a pot? Yep, I'll explain. It is the season for closing the year's accounts and make inventories. Toward the south, planting could begin, and in the north the start of maple-sugaring.
Eric Sloane, author of Seasons of America, is taking me through the end of the year. March is the start of the New Year of seasons as recognized by early Americans. Having received the book from my friend, Shawn, for Christmas, I couldn't begin in the beginning of the book- which begins with March. No patience, I had to know what I was missing in January. Thus the blog entry "Ice, rolling and nails- no more" in January.
Well, February 2 is not just Groundhog day, it is Candlemas. This is a British holiday the Americans brought with them to the new world. It was considered the half-way mark of the winter season. Which, could be kind of a frightening thought- hasn't it been cold forever? Aren't we getting a few reluctant signs of spring already? But, you have to think of the season as spanning not just the cold months, but the months in which no food will be forthcoming from the ground. Candlemas is a day of inventory. Firewood and food stores.
The provident farmer on Candlemas Day,
Has half of his fires and half of his hay.
If you've gone through more than half, you start slowing your consumption to make it through. Of course, there is a great variety of weather here in the U.S., so this admonishing poem doesn't hold true throughout. Still, prudent in my area.
Also done in February was the pruning of larger trees. Land leases did not allow you to cut down whole trees, but you could prune as much underwood as could be reached by a hook or crook. Recognize that one, eh? Because of the running of sap beginnning this month, timbers were cut "during the old moon" for their strength and durability. So, get out your axes, people! Fence posts, framing timbers, excellent firewood awaits.
Now, a note about axes. Think of the big ax pictured in the hands of illustrations of Paul Bunyan. That massive ax, with the broad flared blade would have been a Broad Ax. He wouldn't have used such an ax to fell a tree. For that he would've used a smaller, less dramatic Felling Ax. The Broad Ax was used for hewing round logs into square beams. To do this, you "four-score" the tree with a chop on four sides of the log. Picture one of those jumbo Tootsie Rolls handed out at Halloween. The candy has scores along the length for the more restrained children to break the candy into more reasonable bits. That is what four-scoring resembles. Then, you yield the Broad Ax to pop the outside of the tree longitudinally between scores, ending with a square shaped beam. Cinch.
Now, for the disturbing season of the pot cleaning. I suppose it would simplify the dish-doing in the home anyway. See, the soup pot was kept going all winter. You'd swing the pot on the iron arm over the fire to make it hot, swing it off the fire to let it cool, but you'd just add stock and vegetables and bits of leftover possum or whatever you've got, and when it got low, add more. Pot likker was what it was termed. You'd get your bowl of pot likker and a slice of cornbread and that was the meal. Well, towards the end of February, the pot was allowed to get quite low, eventually empty, and you scoured all the scary bits out of the bottom.
When pot likker's low
or ceases to stew,
The farmer doth know
that the Winter is through.
So, Punxatawney Phil is just a late model pot likker.
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