Feb. 28, Monday -- Moon at apogee. Sunny today means an excellent year.
Feb. 29, Tuesday -- Leap Day. English astronomers announce discovery of first pulsar, 1968.March 1, Wednesday -- St. David. Moon runs low. Avalanche, Wellington, Wash., 1910.
March 2, Thursday -- St. Chad. Blackthorn winds, New England. Theodore Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) born, 1904.
March 3, Friday -- Stick to your winter flannels, 'til your flannels stick to you.
March 4, Saturday -- Antonio Vivaldi born, 1678. Blizzard, Cape Cod, 1960.
March 5, Sunday -- Boston Massacre, 1770. Patsy Cline killed, 1963.
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: What are "Blackthorn winds," as you call them? -- B.G., New York, N.Y.
Answer:The blackthorn is a tree or shrub of the rose family (Prunus spinosa), as perhaps you know. It has white, roselike flowers and bears bluish-black, tart plumlike fruits called sloes. (You've heard of sloe gin? It is flavored with this fruit.)
The shrub's very long, black thorns are the source of its name. Some call it the pear haw. In some years in New England, when springlike weather comes early (albeit briefly), the very warm days bring the blackthorn bush into bloom prematurely. Generally, this early blow of warm air is cruelly followed by a terrific blast of more arctic stuff.
If a real cold snap follows, it may be called a blackthorn winter, as in the age-old folklore warnings to "Beware the blackthorn winter." Blackthorn winds, therefore, are unseasonably warm, dry winds that may trick the near-ready foliage into bud, only to have those buds nipped by later freezes.
In England, blackthorn winds were more commonly predicted at the end of March or early April, nearer to when the blackthorn bush might come into its normal period of budding.
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac:What are Chad-pennies? -- H.Y., Loomis, Calif.
Answer:Chad-pennies were one church's way of raising funds for the restoration of the building. Every Whitsunday at St. Chad's Cathedral in Lichfield, England, Chad-pennies were collected in the offering baskets for repairs. St. Chad, whose feast day is March 2, was the bishop in Lichfield during the seventh century. After he was canonized, he became known as the patron saint of medicinal springs, and his waters were reputed to heal those with sore eyes.
There was a well on the east side of Lichfield, where, according to legend, St. Chad enjoyed standing in the waters, naked, and praying. The water was supposed to be unusually pure. Another well, in London near King's Cross, was also called St. Chad's well, but this one was reputed with laxative powers.
Both were considered restorative. Weatherlore often links St. Chad with St. David, whose feast day comes the day before, on March 1. St. David was from Wales and died on March 1, 544.
His legend relates that he advised the Britons to go into battle against the Saxons with leeks attached to their hats, in order to distinguish themselves more easily from their enemies. They achieved victory and their anniversary is celebrated by Welshmen who continue to wear leeks in their hats -- despite the obvious odor. The weather lore links them with the time for sowing peas. "St. David and St. Chad, sow pease (sic) good or bad."
Another rhyme is "First comes David and then comes Chad, and then comes Winneral as though he was mad." Winneral refers to St. Winnold, whose feast day on March 3 traditionally brings stormy weather.
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: Why are members of the Society of Friends called Quakers? --G.W., Northport, N.Y.
Answer: The Society of Friends had its origins in England, where a preacher named George Fox (guided by what he called "Inner Light" and committed to a "priesthood of believers") began to put together the basic tenets of the religion in about 1647.
In 1650, Fox wrote in his journal: "Justice Gervase Bennett first called us Quakers because we bid him tremble at the word of God." Originally, worship was conducted largely in meditative silence, unless a member was moved, spiritually, to speak. Later toward the end of the 19th centuries, hymns and readings were added to the regular worship services.
A few decades later, on March 4, 1681, another Englishman and Friend, William Penn received from King Charles II (in payment of a 16,000-pound debt owed Penn's father) a tract of land in America that became the "holy experiment" of a Society of Friends colony in Pennsylvania. Charles II gave it its name, and established it as a place where religious and political freedom could flourish, then effectively stood back (in England) to see what would happen.
Some of the basic principles of the Society of Friends included a renunciation of war and violence of many kinds, the abolition of Negro slavery, prison reform, temperance and improved education -- virtually all still in effect today. The early Friends in England had split off from the Episcopal Church of England, preferring a more direct relationship between believers and God. It is estimated that today there are about 200,000 Quakers worldwide.
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