Monday, February 01, 2010

FEBRUARY

Wednesday February 3rd, and 17th at 10:15 am our Morning Coffee at The Rooms Restaurant on the 4th floor of The Rooms Museum. For more information about the club call: Michelle Lacroix 738-7123 Anne Graham 739-0416 Hana Semerad 738-0266

AROUND TOWN
MUN Opera Workshop featuring Mozart’s The Magic Flute, a production of the Wizard of Oz at MUN Reid Theatre
Theatre play Monarita, at the Basement Theatre
Feb 25-28 PHILOSOPHY WINTER COLLOQUIUM, 2010
February 2: Seamus O’Neill, Plato and Imagination
February 9: Michelle Rebidoux (Religious Studies), Friendship, Imagination and the Spiral of the Messianic in the Believing Humanism of Martin Bubern

NEWFOUNDLAND CORNER
by Hana Semerad
Saturday’s change and Sunday’s full moon never brought good and never will.
If the weather conditions of the first 12 days of January really indicate the weather for the next 12 months, we should be happy and expect relatively mild conditions. The temperatures did dip rather drastically after January 23rd, but arriving as they did 11 days after the deadline, the freezing temperatures should not worry us. If you own an elsinor and a pair of thumb gluttons, you are set, what ever the weather. The lawns were green again last week, and yesterday’s late afternoon sudden snow squall warning materialized a little late, nevertheless, the snow remained.
For being the shortest month of the year, February is surprisingly full of notable days. February 1st is one such day - St. Brigid’s Day. It was believed St. Brigid would walk on a piece of string left outside the house on the night of January 31st. The string wound around one’s ankle would guard against the wearer’s falls and accidents. It was also customary to make a cross our of rushes or reeds, which, once woven, was blessed by a priest, sprinkled with holy water and then hung on the front doors, until it was replaced by its newer successor on February first of the following year. New Orleans may have its Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) also known as Shrove Tuesday, but in Newfoundland it is Pancake Day. Overleaf you will find information about two of many choices for pancake breakfast organized annually by the local CBC.
Full moon occurs on St. Valentine’s Day, Sunday, February 14th this year; it is the full moon heralding the Lunar New Year, year of the Tiger – how is that for an overkill! As the change in the moon is on Saturday, and it is full on Sunday, we are to expect bad weather. We may find some clinker bells. The Weatherlore quote does not explain for how long – only that Sunday, for the rest of the month of February, or from then on? The weather is going to drive us cattywampus. Let us hope the prediction of mild weather for the year will shorten the effects of the full moon maturing on Sunday.

The following definitions are from Dictionary of Newfoundland and Labrador by Ron Young
elsinor – a cap with ear flaps, especially one made of leather
thumb gluttons – a.k.a. trigger mitt because of a separate forefinger for pulling the trigger of a gun
clinker bells – or ice candle - icicle
Weatherlore – a chapter from the Dictionary of Newfoundland and Labrador, source of definitions
cattywampus - crazy
Pancake Day – observed by Protestants aw well as Roman Catholics, marked the beginning of Lent and was celebrated by serving pancakes. Pancakes contained eggs, which were forbidden during lent. Sometimes thin objects such as buttons and coins were placed in pancakes, and in some areas finding these objects would have meanings: coin – wealth, button – become tailor, nail – become carpenter or marry one