The Old Farmer's Almanac 2015 (17 page)

Another was to give prospective sons-in-law an antique chair that was guaranteed to collapse under them and then observe their reactions. I got one of these chairs in 1970, my first Thanksgiving there. My son-in-law got one almost three decades later. It was probably the same chair.

When Betty passed away, so did the farmhouse Thanksgivings. It was a natural transition from the crowds and card tables and chaos to less complicated gatherings. The food is just as good, the company equally diverse and stimulating. But I miss Betty, and the spoons, and the collapsing chairs.

The Twelfth Month

SKY WATCH
It’s still a postmidnight party for all of the bright planets. Dawn now finds Jupiter at its highest, in the southeast, with Venus lowest, floating left of Virgo’s blue main star Spica. Still faint but brightening Mars hovers in between. The Moon passes just below Jupiter on the 4th and eye-catchingly close to Venus during the wee hours of the 7th, for a major don’t-miss conjunction. This year brings a rare second fabulous meteor shower under ideal moonless skies, when the Geminids blaze on the 13th starting at around 8:00 P.M. These “shooting stars” are strangely slow, at half the speed of summer’s Perseids. Winter begins with the solstice on the 21st, at 11:48 P.M.

December Hath 31 Days

Now see stern Winter nearer draw,
Sol’s feeble rays refuse to thaw.

–
William Cole

Farmer’s Calendar

Dec. 1:
Every year, we watch the pond with conflicting hopes. We like snow, but we love black ice, which happens only when the pond freezes before the first snow.

Black ice is perfectly smooth and perfectly transparent. Many years ago, we lived on a pond farther north, where one winter we had a full week of black ice. While we were skating, we could occasionally see beaver swimming beneath our blades.

One night, a powdery snow fell and we went out for a final skate. Even as the inches piled up, we glided along as if we were flying above the clouds. The next morning, the snow had frozen and the skating was done.

Dec. 5:
It’s been in the 20s every night for the past week, and we had some light snow overnight. There’s a little bit of open water at the northwest end of the pond, where a brook tumbles in, but otherwise it’s a white sheet, so there’ll be no black ice this year.

Dec. 9:
Spoke too soon. When we walked past the pond this morning, there was not a shard of ice on it, as if we had been transported back in time to September. Two days of rain and two more of mild temperatures and southern breezes had restored our little pond to a liquid state.

Temporarily.

Federal holidays are listed in bold. See
Movable Religious Observances
[>]
.

Tidal Glossary

Apogean Tide:
A monthly tide of decreased range that occurs when the Moon is at apogee (farthest from Earth).

Diurnal Tide:
A tide with one high water and one low water in a tidal day of approximately 24 hours.

Mean Lower Low Water:
The arithmetic mean of the lesser of a daily pair of low waters, observed over a specific 19-year cycle called the National Tidal Datum Epoch.

Neap Tide:
A tide of decreased range that occurs twice a month, when the Moon is in quadrature (during its first and last quarters, when the Sun and the Moon are at right angles to each other relative to Earth).

Perigean Tide:
A monthly tide of increased range that occurs when the Moon is at perigee (closest to Earth).

Semidiurnal Tide:
A tide with one high water and one low water every half day. East Coast tides, for example, are semidiurnal, with two highs and two lows during a tidal day of approximately 24 hours.

Spring Tide:
A tide of increased range that occurs at times of syzygy each month. Named not for the season of spring but from the German
springen
(“to leap up”), a spring tide also brings a lower low water.

Syzygy:
The nearly straight-line configuration that occurs twice a month, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction (on the same side of Earth, at the new Moon) and when they are in opposition (on opposite sides of Earth, at the full Moon). In both cases, the gravitational effects of the Sun and the Moon reinforce each other, and tidal range is increased.

Vanishing Tide:
A mixed tide of considerable inequality in the two highs and two lows, so that the lower high (or higher low) may appear to vanish.

Many readers have expressed puzzlement over the rather obscure entries that appear on our
Right-Hand Calendar Pages
[>]
. These “oddities” have long been fixtures in the Almanac, and we are pleased to provide some definitions. (Once explained, they may not seem so odd after all!)

Ember Days:
The four periods observed by some Christian denominations for prayer, fasting, and the ordination of clergy are called Ember Days. Specifically, these are the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays that occur in succession following (1) the First Sunday in Lent; (2) Whitsunday-Pentecost; (3) the Feast of the Holy Cross, September 14; and (4) the Feast of St. Lucia, December 13. The word ember is perhaps a corruption of the Latin quatuor tempora, “four times.”

Folklore has it that the weather on each of the 3 days foretells the weather for the next 3 months; that is, in September, the first Ember Day, Wednesday, forecasts the weather for October; Friday predicts November; and Saturday foretells December.

Distaff Day (January 7):
This was the first day after Epiphany (January 6), when women were expected to return to their spinning following the Christmas holiday. A distaff is the staff that women used for holding the flax or wool in spinning. (Hence the term “distaff” refers to women’s work or the maternal side of the family.)

Plough Monday (January):
Traditionally, the first Monday after Epiphany was called Plough Monday because it was the day when men returned to their plough, or daily work, following the Christmas holiday. (Every few years, Plough Monday and Distaff Day fall on the same day.) It was customary at this time for farm laborers to draw a plough through the village, soliciting money for a “plough light,” which was kept burning in the parish church all year. This traditional verse captures the spirit of it:

“Yule is come and Yule is gone,

and we have feasted well;

so Jack must to his flail again

and Jenny to her wheel.”

Three Chilly Saints (May):
Mamertus, Pancras, and Gervais were three early Christian saints. Because their feast days, on May 11, 12, and 13, respectively, are traditionally cold, they have come to be known as the Three Chilly Saints. An old French saying translates to: “St. Mamertus, St. Pancras, and St. Gervais do not pass without a frost.”

Midsummer Day (June 24):
To the farmer, this day is the midpoint of the growing season, halfway between planting and harvest. (Midsummer Eve is an occasion for festivity and celebrates fertility.) The Anglican church considered it a “Quarter Day,” one of the four major divisions of the liturgical year. It also marks the feast day of St. John the Baptist.

Cornscateous Air (July):
First used by early almanac makers, this term signifies warm, damp air. Though it signals ideal climatic conditions for growing corn, it poses a danger to those affected by asthma and other respiratory problems.

Dog Days (July 3-August 11):
These 40 days are traditionally the year’s hottest and unhealthiest. They once coincided with the year’s heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius. Ancient folks thought that the “combined heat” of Sirius and the Sun caused summer’s swelter.

Lammas Day (August 1):
Derived from the Old English hlaf maesse, meaning “loaf mass,” Lammas Day marked the beginning of the harvest. Traditionally, loaves of bread were baked from the first-ripened grain and brought to the churches to be consecrated. Eventually, “loaf mass” became “Lammas.” In Scotland, Lammastide fairs became famous as the time when trial marriages could be made. These marriages could end after a year with no strings attached.

Cat Nights Begin (August 17):
This term harks back to the days when people believed in witches. An Irish legend says that a witch could turn into a cat and regain herself eight times, but on the ninth time (August 17), she couldn’t change back, hence the saying: “A cat has nine lives.” Because August is a “yowly” time for cats, this may have initially prompted the speculation about witches on the prowl.

Harvest Home (September):
In Europe and Britain, the conclusion of the harvest each autumn was marked by festivals of fun, feasting, and thanksgiving known as “Harvest Home.” It was also a time to hold elections, pay workers, and collect rents. These festivals usually took place around the autumnal equinox. Certain groups in the United States, particularly the Pennsylvania Dutch, have kept the tradition alive.

St. Luke’s Little Summer (October):
This is a spell of warm weather that occurs on or near St. Luke’s feast day (October 18) and is sometimes called Indian summer.

Indian Summer (November):
A period of warm weather following a cold spell or a hard frost, Indian summer can occur between St. Martin’s Day (November 11) and November 20. Although there are differing dates for its occurrence, for more than 200 years the Almanac has adhered to the saying “If All Saints’ (November 1) brings out winter, St. Martin’s brings out Indian summer.” The term may have come from early Native Americans, some of whom believed that the condition was caused by a warm wind sent from the court of their southwestern god, Cautantowwit.