February 2016...An Uncommon Solmonath

In Old English language...like the Middle Ages...February was called Solmonath (mud month).  Do you think they much liked the second month of winter?  Probably not for the muddy mess that freezing rain and snow left for them to deal with, but there was a bright side to Solmonath.  It was also known as Kale-monath.  That's right...February as we know it was not always celebrated with chocolates and cherries...but...cabbage.

February has a confusing calendar history with day tripping starts and endings.  For example it starts on the same day of the week as both March and November in common years, and as August in leap years.  That one day of 24 hours every four years is a horologists and astrologists nightmare.

Here's how Leap Year messes with February's end of the month...it ends on the same day of the week as July of the following year in years immediately before leap years.  In leap years, it is the only month that ends on the same weekday on which it began and is the only month of that year that can pass without a single full moon...except in 1999.  Horologists...students of  horology...the art or science of measuring time,  calculate the next February full moon will occur in 2018.  I am going to consult my Crystal Ball or maybe even the Ouija Board...better yet a croaking frog.  It's true, says so in the Farmer's Almanac...the wood frog is the voice of the weather.  Oh wait...that's a gopher. 

I imagine by now you are wondering how this month's opening post got off on amphibians and rodents when we generally think of February as a month of pretty valentines, chocolates, amethysts and violets.  My best guess is because this is one of those...

...Horologists/Astrologist nightmares.

February 2016
 STARTS on MONDAY and ENDS on MONDAY!
There will be NO FULL MOON!
A rodent named Phil will NOT see his shadow due to predicted cloud cover!
Croaking Wood Frogs will NOT emerge from the 'Middle Ages Mud'!
It is a LEAP YEAR!