JULY 21, MONDAY: Moon at perigee. Ernest Hemingway born, 1899.
JULY 22, TUESDAY: Rose Kennedy born, 1890. Last "Ziegfeld Follies" performed, 1944.JULY 23, WEDNESDAY: Author Henry David Thoreau arrested for refusing to pay poll tax, 1846. Pitcher Don Drysdale born, 1936.
JULY 24, THURSDAY: 150 years ago today, Brigham Young and followers arrive at Great Salt Lake Valley, Utah, 1847.
JULY 25, FRIDAY: St. James. "Till St. James Day be come and gone,/
You may have hops and you may have none."
JULY 26, SATURDAY: Carl Jung born, 1875. George Bernard Shaw born, 1856.
JULY 27, SUNDAY: Armistice at Panmunjom ended Korean War, 1953.
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: I've heard that in Italy it's considered taboo to remove a periwinkle from a child's grave. What's the significance of the periwinkle?
- A.F.S., Oklahoma City, Okla.
Answer: Well, first, it's the plant of the genus Vinca being considered, not the small edible snails that are also called periwinkles. Vinca is a trailing perennial plant with glossy, dark green leaves, woody stems, and bluish-purple flowers. You often see it growing in great clusters under trees and in other shaded spots, as a long-blooming ground cover. Because the blooms begin in the early spring, they have been associated with springtime and innocence. In fact, one theory is that the name derives from the Russian "pervi" for first.
Medieval herbalists considered periwinkle a magic cure for demonic possession and other evils. It was also considered an antidote to many poisons, or for fear or envy. If a healer wished to pick it, it had to be gathered at the proper phase of the moon and only by a pure-minded individual with the right uses in mind. As for picking it from a child's grave, why would someone do that? No doubt any pruning of the plant from a gravesite was considered a diminishing of its magical protection from evil.
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: Is it true that mariners can tell the tides by looking at a cat's eyes?
- J.B., Louisiana, Mo.
Answer: We'd place this one alongside the one about cats having nine lives. Plenty of people think so, but it would be hard to prove. Some say New Englanders can tell not only the tides but the time by a cat's eyes.
Considering how much time cats spend asleep, feline timekeeping would be a good trick. Other mariners' superstitions about cats have to do with taking them to sea. If you threw a cat overboard, there would be a bad storm at sea. If the cat meowed, there would be a difficult voyage. Many captains brought cats on board in the first place to help them predict the weather.
If the cat was restless, unsettled weather was on the way. A cat washing his face was thought to indicate rain approaching. If the cat was frisky, the wind would be coming up. A gemstone called a "cat's eye" is one form of good luck token, especially in Asia.
Other cat superstitions, whether at land or at sea, are cautionary: Never kick a cat, or you'll get rheumatism. Never drown a cat, or the devil will get you. Black cats crossing your path can be construed as either good luck or bad luck, depending on your particular cultural bias.
If you don't much care for cats, you might consider whether you're a victim of ailurophobia - the fear of cats. Reportedly, Napoleon suffered from the calamity.
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: If only female mosquitoes bite, then what do the males eat?
- M.G., Newmarket, N.H.
Answer: Plant juices and nectars. The female needs blood in order to bring her eggs to maturity, otherwise she might be just as vegetarian as her mate, we assume. Troubled by mosquitoes? Hold your breath. Some people believe that the mosquito cannot extract its stinger if you're holding your breath, and it will die. A similar theory holds that if you physically tighten the skin around the area where the mosquito has lit, either by clenching your muscles in that area, or by stretching the skin taut with your hands, it will be unable to extract itself. Personally, we'd be more inclined to just swat it.
Lest you think you could actually make a dent in the insect population, however, consider this: There are more various kinds of insects in existence today than the sum total of all other kinds of animals put together. Count everything else, and there's still more bugs!
According to Newfoundland lore, bugs bite worst just before a rainstorm.
Plains Indians believed that mosquitoes originated from the flying ashes that came from the cremated remains of a cannibalistic monster. (Well, why not?) And in Romania, the theory was that they rose from the smoke from the devil's pipe.
*****
Additional Information
This Week with The Old Farmer's Almanac
July 21 - 27, 1997
Pioneers Day (Utah), July 24.
It Takes a Village. . .?
July is National Purposeful Parenting Month in America, designed to encourage greater parental effectiveness and awareness. Find a copy of The Hundred Languages of Children (Edwards, Gandini, and Forman, eds.), abut the Reggio Emelia approach to early childhood education. These parent-initiated school began in Italy a week after World War II. In its December 2, 1991 issue, Newsweek listed them among the ten best schools in the world. An integral aspect of the Reggio Emilia approach is the close interaction between children, parents, teachers, and the community.
Education must have an end in view, for it is not an end in itself.
Tip of the Week
Fill a basket with art supplies and let the kids work while you're getting supper ready.
Greek Deviled Eggs
6 hard-boiled eggs
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons chopped black olives
1 teaspoon snipped fresh mint
Peel the eggs and cut in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks and mash them with the mayonnaise and pepper. Stir in the feta, olives, and mint. Spoon the filling back into the 12 whites. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve.
Makes 12 halves.
The Old Farmer's Weather Proverbs
When the bushes are full of berries, a hard winter is on the way.
Spiders in motion indicate rain.
Beest stay home before a rain.
The finer the day, the businer the ants are.
Got a Question?
Everyday, the editors of The Old Farmer's Almanac answer a question on the Internet. All questions are archived there as well. Got to www.almanac.com.