Feb. 5, Monday — St. Agatha. Moon at ascending node. Actor Red Buttons born, 1919.
Feb. 6, Tuesday — Moon rides high. Devastating blizzard in New England, 1978. Apollo 14 crew on the moon, 1971.
Feb. 7, Wednesday — Moon at perigee. English author Charles Dickens born, 1812. American children's book author Laura Ingalls Wilder born, 1867.
Feb. 8 Thursday — Full snow moon. Earliest tea-picking day, China. "Stars & Stripes" first published, 1918.
Feb. 9, Friday — Burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee born, 1914. Appalachian Mountain Club founded, 1876.
Feb. 10, Saturday — 25th Amendment ratified, 1967. Actor Jimmy Durante born, 1893.
Feb. 11, Sunday — Moon on equator. Minus 15 degrees F in Washington, D.C., 1899. Nelson Mandela freed, 1990.
Ask The Old Farmer's Almanac: Is it true that Laura Ingalls Wilder's books were once banned in America? — S.J.A., Pawtucket, R.I.
Answer: No, they weren't actually banned, but one of the books in her "Little House" series ("The Little House on the Prairie") was challenged as being discriminatory to American Indians. There was an attempt to keep it from the bookshelves in schools and some libraries, but the effort proved unsuccessful. Two challenges to the book occurred in 1993, one in Thibodaux, La., and the other in Sturgis, S.D. "The Little House on the Prairie" does contain statements that, if taken out of context, might be misconstrued as derogatory to the American Indians that the Ingalls family encountered on their trip westward, but even young children seem to comprehend that the author of the book speaks out against such racial prejudices.
Fond readers of the Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) series that begins with "The Little House in the Big Woods" are often puzzled by the discrimination charge. Indeed, the books were unusually open-minded about the effects of the early settlement and development of America on American Indians. In the stories, based on the true accounts of Laura and her parents and siblings, the family is frightened by an encounter with American Indians in the Kansas Indian Territory, where the Ingalls have built a log house. Unlike one of their neighbors, Mr. Scott, however, whose opinion is that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian," Pa (Charles Ingalls) "figured that Indians would be as peaceable as anybody else if they were let alone. On the other hand, they had been moved west so many times that naturally they hated white folks."
The books in the original series were published between 1932 and 1943; "The Little House on the Prairie" came out in 1935. It was this book in particular that the Michael Landon television series was based upon, but all the books are still popular with both young and old audiences today.
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: What can you tell me about hoarfrost? —D. G., Bangor, Maine
Answer: Sometimes called white frost, hoarfrost is the highly visible frozen dew found on leaves and grass in the early morning hours. The word hoar (or hoary) refers to a grayish-white color, whether from frost or from age. You might hear, for instance, of Santa Claus having a hoary beard. Certain plants, such as lambs' ears and a few varieties of yarrow and sage, are often described as having hoary leaves. The hoary marmot of northwestern parts of the United States has a grayish-white coat of fur. The word hoar has Indo-European origins.
In terms of weather lore, dew, frost and fog are often considered as a group, and some believe that they are predictors of the same kinds of weather. "Frost or dew in the morning light, Shows no rain before the night," goes one proverb. Frost, dew and fog are different from precipitation because they are formed at ground level rather than up in the clouds. Hoarfrost often gives the appearance of a light scattering of snow on the ground. Contrary to its appearance, however, the presence of hoarfrost suggests that snow is unlikely. "When the morn is dry (no dew), The rain is nigh."
In Edward F. Dolan's The Old Farmer's Almanac Book of Weatherlore (Yankee Books, 1988), he remarks, "In mythology, frost was generally visualized as an elf, a wood sprite or a wood nymph; in Russia, however, it was an old white-haired man, Father Frost, and in Germany an aged and white-haired woman, Mother Frost. Jack (Frost) is thought to have originated in Scandinavia. Norse legend holds that he was the son of Kari, the god of the winds, and was named either Jokul or Frosti, with the former meaning 'icicle' and the latter, of course, 'frost.' "
Ask the Old Farmer's Almanac: Can you decipher for me the Latin name of the flower called Leucojum hiemale? Does it mean snowflake? — M. H., Calumet City, Ill.
Answer: Hiemalis means simply "of winter." Though leucojum might be considered the generic name of the various snowflake flowers, it means "with white flowers." Compare leucobotrys, "with white clusters," and leucocaulis, "white-stemmed." Leucoxylon refers to the whitish color of that woody plant. The garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence (1904-1985) says that leucojum comes from the Greek for "white violet" and the flower was so-named for its fragrance, evident only if you warm the petals in your hand. She also noted that, at least in the South, "the winter snowflake, Leucojum hiemale, blooms in spring; the summer snowflake, L. aestivum, often blooms in winters in these parts; and the autumn snowflake, L. autumnale, blooms in summer."
Send your questions to: Ask the Almanac, The Old Farmer's Almanac, Main St., Dublin, NH 03444; Web site: www.almanac.com; © Yankee Publishing Inc.