SEPT. 23, MONDAY: Yom Kippur. Planet Neptune discovered, 1846.
SEPT. 24, TUESDAY: "The Great Gatsby" author F. Scott Fitzgerald born, 1896.SEPT. 25, WEDNESDAY: Barbara Walters born, 1931. "If you will learn news, you must go to the oven or the mill." - proverb.
SEPT. 26, THURSDAY: Full harvest moon. Total eclipse of moon in evening.
SEPT. 27, FRIDAY: Native American Day. Patriot Samuel Adams born, 1722.
SEPT. 28, SATURDAY: Frances Willard Day (Minnesota, Wisconsin). Ed Sullivan born, 1902.
SEPT. 29, SUNDAY: St. Michael. "Michaelmas chickens and parsons' daughters ne'er come to good."
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: Why does Michaelmas have so much folklore and weather lore surrounding it?
- S.S., Lancaster, Pa.
Answer: Probably its position at the cusp of winter's weather was much to blame. Just as the autumn nut supply and size of the beaver lodges and abundance of berries were always closely scrutinized for what they had to predict about the coming winter, so the autumnal saints' days were heavily laden with lore. Michaelmas Day was also one of the quarter-days when rents were due and magistrates elected, so it's likely anxiety was higher on that account. The year's harvest was depended upon to pay the way. "The devil sets his foot on the blackberries on Michaelmas Day" was just one reference to summer's bounty coming to an end.
Michaelmas was also used as a marker for predicting and counting floods to come: "So many days old the moon is on Michaelmas Day, so many floods after." This Michaelmas, the moon is 17 days old - that's a good number of floods for the year, but it could have been up to 28. Better get out those boots!
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: Who was Frances Willard?
- J.R., Shreveport, La.
Answer: Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard was born in Churchville, N.Y., in 1839. She first worked as a schoolteacher, becoming president of Evanston College for Ladies in Illinois when she was 31, and then dean of women when it merged into Northwestern University. She left the university to help organize the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and it was this work for which she became known. Together with about 135 other women who met at the Second Presbyterian Church in Cleveland in November, 1874, Willard dedicated herself to the temperance movement, acting as corresponding secretary for the WCTU. The organization became commonly known as "the women's crusade" and Willard went on to encourage other reforms in the name of women's suffrage.
The Women's Christian Temperance Union created the first organized impact of women in American politics. It was joined, of course, by many noted men over the course of the century, among them Henry Ward Beecher, Henry David Thoreau, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Indeed, the temperance movement was also largely a labor movement, as industrialists realized the economic and efficiency benefits of a more sober work force. Besides temperance, the WCTU also worked against tobacco, gambling, cursing, violence against women (including rape), and for women's suffrage and world peace.
Frances Willard died in 1898. She is represented in the National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: Is Indian Balm the same flower as Red Trillium? I'm told the Lake Superior Indians used the former for "female troubles."
- L.T., Ludington, Mich.
Answer: Same thing. There are at least 30 species of the hardy perennial called trillium, all belonging to the lily family, and found commonly in moist, wooded areas from Quebec to the Carolinas and westward to Minnesota.
Red Trillium (blood-red petals) and Painted Trillium (long, white petals with purplish blotches) are the most common. Then there's the Snow Trillium called "grand-i-flo-rum" (white petals, fading to pinkish), which also show up in double forms. Other common names for the trilliums include Beth root, Sarah, squaw root, red Benjamin, nose bleed, birth root, trinity flower (for the three leaves on the stem), wake robin and white lilies.
All trilliums were used fairly indiscriminately for various ills by many different Indian tribes as well as by early colonists and Shakers. They were also used as dye plants to make red or, mixed with alum, to create blue. The roots were considered medicinal, and some Indians believed that the red plants were more useful for men's complaints, while the white were used to treat women, especially for menstrual and birthing difficulties.
Some early accounts record the use of the crushed flowers and leaves to bring on childbirth. Externally, the trilliums were considered useful for tumors or for poultices. The astringent and antiseptic qualities were tried for various sores and swellings. Combined with red clover in an infusion, trillium was used by the Mohawks for problems of the complexion.
Send your questions to: Ask the Almanac, The Old Farmer's Almanac, Main St., Dublin, NH 03444. Every day the editors of The Old Farmer's Almanac answer a question on the Internet. All questions are archived there as well. On the World Wide Web, the address is (http://www.almanac.com)
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
THIS WEEK WITH The OLD FARMER'S ALMANAC
SEPTEMBER 23-29, 1996
YOM KIPPUR, SEPT. 23.
FULL HARVEST MOON
September 26 makes this year's Full Harvest Moon, always the Full Moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox, consequently falling in October in some years. For 1996, the Harvest Moon comes right on the heels of the Autumnal Equinox on the 22nd. The 26th also shows a total eclipse of the Harvest Moon, visible in the eastern and central United States and Canada in its beginning stages. The final stages of the eclipse can be viewed from most of North America, except for extreme viewed from most of North America, except for extreme western Alaska and Hawaii.
The shadow of our traveling earth/Hung on the silver moon.
- Charles Tennyson-Turner
TIP OF THE WEEK
Harvested tomato seeds are viable for up to 4 years. Save seeds from open-pollinated, non-hybrid plants.
BROILED SWORDFISH KEBABS
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon red pepper sauce
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 pounds fresh swordfish
2 red peppers, seeded
24 cherry tomatoes
juice of 1 lemon
Mix together first 6 ingredients. Cut the swordfish and peppers into 1-inch chunks. Marinate fish in the sauce for 1 hour. Remove fish and reserve marinade. Boil marinade for 3 to 5 minutes. Skewer fish, peppers, and whole tomatoes in an alternating pattern on 12 skewers. Place on cookie sheet and broil for 10 minutes, basting with reserved marinade and turning several times. Before serving, squeeze lemon juice over all. Serve on a bed of rice.
Makes 6 servings.
The OLD FARMER'S WEATHER PROVERBS
Moonlit nights have the heaviest frosts.
As many floods will follow as the Moon is old on St. Michael's Day (Sept. 20).
Holly berries shining red, mean a long winter, 'tis said.
- English proverb
The first and last frosts are always the worst.