He also gave out flat-breads to the pilgrims in Rome. So many folk serve flatbreads or pancakes at Candlemas. Round, golden pancakes served
in February are evocative of the sun, a symbol of fertility
and prosperity. For an abundant harvest, a farmer would flip the first pancake with his right hand while holding a gold
coin in his left. The gold coin would then be wrapped inside the pancake
and kept at the top of a wardrobe until the following year, to then be given to
the first poor person encountered. [What?? "hello poor person, have this coin wrapped in a mouldy pancake!"]
Mexicans serve tamales and hot chocolate. In the USA and Canada, 2nd February is Groundhog Day. If the groundhog emerges from hibernation, it means spring is coming - if the creature pops out, then goes back into his nest, winter will not end for another six weeks
If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain, winter will not come again.
What am I doing today? - well it is the start of a new adventure. Following on from The Postcard Project [final pictures will follow soon] Kirsten and I are embarking on The Cross Country Collaboration.
A rectangle of fabric, which will end up the same size as our postcards. But this is not vintage linen, this is 11-count Aida.
Kirsten [the artistic one in this pairing] has worked out a grid of a dozen shapes, and throughout the year we will take each piece in turn and fill in one of the areas with our own stitching. I'm rather excited.
Here you see my piece of fabric, the Kaffe Fassett notebook for explanatory information, the grid drawn out on tracing paper, and a Graze box [ we know these are thin enough to count as "large letter", which keeps our postal costs down]
Really looking forward to this next challenge. Watch this space
Sounds like another fun project, Angela! :)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it so much!
DeleteI've learnt a lot on this post, absolutely fascinating. I didn't realise that today was Groundhog Day either.
ReplyDeleteNow that IS a strange custom, IMHO
DeleteIt'll be nice watching progress on your latest project
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
👍😊
DeleteYou have the details of Groundhog Day wrong. If he sees his shadow when he emerges there will be another 6 weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow then spring is around the corner. They use specific groundhogs that are forced from hibernation in advance so they will definitely come out if their burrow. In this part of the country it is Wiarton Willy, an albino groundhog. There were problems a few years ago. When they went to wake him up they found he’d died (of old age) during the winter. They had a backup albino groundhog but I seem to recall that there was some problem with him as well so they had to use the second backup. That was when they had to admit that it hadn’t been the same groundhog all along and we were now on about Willie number 6. Personally, I remember February 2 because it was my grandmother’s birthday. My brother used to joke that we should see if she saw her shadow - it might be more accurate!
ReplyDeleteThank you Lynda, I stand corrected - I was unaware of all the specific instructions for the groundhogs. Your Gran might indeed have been more reliable!!
Delete6 more weeks of winter for us here in Canada. Never understood the need for Groundhog Day, other than to break up the bleak months of January and February?
ReplyDeleteThe new project sounds exciting and well done for working out in advance that it would be large letter size. I was at U3a craft group this morning and I chose and elephant to kantha stitch. Unfortunately we were given really cheap thread to work with so it’s not to my taste. Catriona
ReplyDeleteKantha is very like the Japanese Boro work, stacking and stitching thin fabrics, isn't it?
DeleteI think the Groundhog custom began in the US. For my part of Canada it would be impossible until early May.
ReplyDeleteYour nation covers such a huge area, I can imagine spring comes later in the Northern parts
DeleteIn Canada, if the grondhog sees his shadow, there will be 6 more weeks of winter. Wharton Willy in Ontario did not see his shadow but Shubanecadi Sam in Nova Scotia saw his shadow. Also, you might be interested in reading Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish saved civilization.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the book recommendation
DeleteGroundhog day is just a silly joke here! I look forward to seeing your post card project results. I had to Google graze box, had not heard of it, and thought it might be some special mailing box from your post office! I see it's available here as well.
ReplyDeleteGraze boxes are tasty healthy snacks. They come on a monthly basis. I has an introductory offer but did not continue with it. Kirsten's supplied these boxes - ideal for posting
DeleteNo self respecting groundhog would come out in February, although with global warming....... The organizers fetch the poor thing out of hibernation for a photo-op. We are due for something like -30°C tonight so I hope all the groundhogs were snugged down again soon after the ceremonies!
ReplyDeleteWe once had a groundhog that visited our yard for a week's holiday every August and set up his AirBnB under the side step.
I look forward to your next sewing project with Kirsten!
I love the idea of a groundhog AirBnB
DeleteP.S. Kezzie here. I have a couple of Lateral flow kit boxes which would also work well for your project- they are sturdy and the correct size!
ReplyDeleteOoh, I hadn't thought of LFT boxes! We have lots here as Bob has to test regularly before his Hospice work. Great suggestion Kezzie. Thanks
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