From Wednesday’s (1-27-2015) Observer

There is an old Wall Street axiom that says “As January goes, so goes the year.” I don’t know beans about Wall Street, but I do know that this January has been tough around here – too many serious health issues among my friends and loved ones, and too many difficult weather-related problems. I’m glad the month is winding down.

It’s interesting to me that the original Roman calendar (upon which our modern one is based) consisted of only ten months totaling 304 days. Winter was considered a month-less period. I wonder how that worked?

Leaky Drips at Our House

Then, around 713 BC, the semi-mythical successor of Romulus, King of Numa Pompilus, presumably added the months of January and February so that the calendar covered a standard lunar year of 365 days. The name for January (in Latin, Ianuarius) is named after Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions and has its beginnings in Roman mythology, coming from the Latin word for door (ianua) since January is the door to the year.

With that door image in mind, I’m trying to envision the year as building with a series of twelve rooms. The first room in this structure has been certainly been littered with obstacles and pitfalls. I will be glad to move into February, “the month of purification” according to the Romans.

Wishful Thinking

On the other hand, historical names for February include the Old English terms “Solmonath” (mud month) and “Kale-monath” (named for cabbage.) Given a choice, I’m going with helmikuu meaning “month of the pearl” in Finnish. Although… it’s based on this: when snow melts on tree branches, it forms droplets, and as these freeze again, they are like pearls of ice. That sounds way too much like what we call a “silver thaw” which can be treacherous in the extreme. Maybe around here “month of the pearl” could be based on the possibilities and promises of oysters, instead.

No matter what, I hope February is more salubrious for all of us.