Book of Days

Hopefully this doesn’t become a habit, but I’m beginning this Book of Days chapter with an apology, just as I did a couple of chapters ago. It’s the First of March, and you’d be right in expecting your Convivio Book of Days Calendar for March about now, but it will have to be delayed a day or two. Something about Adobe plug-ins. Something, too, about procrastination… but that’s another story.

March brings the feast days of a good many saints, many of which bring a little levity (and generally good food) to this somber time of lent. The first of them comes today with St. David’s Day, sacred to Wales, in particular. I’ve got scones baking in the oven as I write this, and that, I realize, is not a very Welsh thing, but it is, nonetheless, what popped into my mind as I awoke this morning. (The coffee is on and the scones are smelling pretty wonderful, by the way.)

The day is given mainly to leeks and daffodils, which may seem an odd combination until you ponder the words for both in Welsh: cenhinen for leek and cenhinen pedr for daffodil. Both leeks and daffodils are symbols of Wales, and some say this is because there has been so much confusion over the centuries about the two. Leeks became a symbol of Wales through an ancient battle in which the Welsh troops distinguished themselves from the Saxon troops by wearing leeks in their caps, and daffodils, perhaps just by linguistic association. Be that as it may, in Wales on this first day of March you’ll be sure to see folks wearing leeks and daffodils on their lapels (and perhaps in their caps). Any meal that involves leeks (and how delicious are leeks!) is sure to be fitting for this day.

The month of March is also a big month for weather lore. Perhaps this is because many folks in northern climes are growing very weary, by now, of winter. March is a month that brings great transition, and it is known to begin and end in opposites: in like a lamb, out like a lion, and then the reverse, of course, should it come in like a lion rather than a lamb. To be sure, generally foul weather is to be expected during this transition period as winter melts to spring. The first few days of March that follow St. David’s Day are given to saints who are ancient and largely forgotten here on Earth: St. Chad tomorrow and St. Winnal on the Third, and there is an old weather rhyme that many know but perhaps do not understand why these odd names come into play:

First comes David,
Next comes Chad,
Then comes Winnal,
Roaring mad.

Whether the Third of March is generally a stormy day I cannot say, nonetheless St. Winnal has developed a bit of a reputation. As for the shift away from winter’s darkness toward summer’s light, we come nearer and nearer to the equinox, which occurs later this month. Vernal for the Northern Hemisphere, autumnal for the Southern, but it is a time of balance for both as the Earth continues to shift in its seat, as it does, always. For today, enjoy the leeks, enjoy the daffodils, should they blooming where you are, and if they are not, rest assured they will be soon. Outdated Adobe plug-ins may stop some things from happening, but luckily for us, this planet operates on a rather timeless system, and that constant rearrange never needs updating.

Image: The gathering of leeks, an illustration from the Tacuinum of Vienna, a 14th century book. [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.