Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Twelfth Night

Whew, we made it to Twelfth Night...If it was good enough for Shakespeare, it's good enough for me. Twelfth Night is an English folk custom that marks the end of Christmas merrymaking and, in the ancient Celtic tradition, the end of the 12-day winter solstice celebration. On Twelfth Night, it was customary for the assembled company to toast one another from the wassail bowl. In Old English, wassail means "Be in good health," but the term also was applied to the drink itself (usually spiced ale). Gotta love another excuse to toast..something and good health is a perfect excuse!  It also escorts us into January, normally a month that nobody cares too much for... (debt, taxes, snow, cold...).  I love January!  We gain nearly an HOUR of daylight in January....and who, beside me, doesn't LOVE daylight!!! January is where we start anew.... we've been through the resolution thing but we can plan for better financial security. Now is the time to do that if you haven't. There are some old adages that are tried and true:
• Fog in January brings a wet spring.
• If grass grows in January, it will grow badly the whole year. (Hmmm)
• He who drops a coat on a winter day, Will gladly put it on in May. (Hang on tightly to your coats)
• If January calends ( that would be the 1st day of the month) be summerly gay,  It will be winterly weather till the calends of May. (could be in for a cold spring).
Let's just hope that Mother Nature doesn't have the onset of the Alzheimer's as I fear.  On this Twelfth Night, let her remember that NY has four seasons!

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