March already, can you believe it?! We set it off with a blizzard here - you know, really wanted to nail the whole in like a Lion bit, even though it's the month of the ram. So too, I suppose there's plenty of time for pruning later, it is a long month after all. What is this ram and pruning business you ask? Just the medieval zodiac and labor of the month, that's all. One of the most interesting things about March is that there is no alternate labor for it. All eleven other months have two, mostly because the rich had different labors than the poor, like feasting instead of trying not to freeze to death by warming next to a fire... if you had one. In all fairness where one lived might also have effected the labor of the month due to the weather or growing seasons. It is not likely that farmer's wheat in central England and central Italy were ready for reaping at the same time. Of course the labor's of the month are rarely applicable now, I still like them. Time Sanctified, by Roger Wieck, is a fantastic book if you're interested in the labor's of the month or anything pertaining to medieval books of hours, which are quite fascinating. Though books of hours are generally made up of all the same; a calendar followed by specific subjects from the bible for each of the eight hours of prayer with tribute to each of the evangelists they often differ in their decoration, images, style of text and what important dates they put on their calendar. See there's a lot to know about books of hours.Maybe it's a hang over from books of hours but it seems that our favorite way to commemorate something is to give it a day. With only a fixed number of months and days I feel it's time we pick a new method to commemorate things. How can March be important and significant as colorectal cancer awareness month when it's also International Ideas, Adopt a Guinea Pig, Red Cross, Irish-American Heritage, National MS Education and Awareness, Small Press, Women's History and Youth Art Month too, to only name a few. That doesn't even get in to the weekly and daily honors. I don't know, maybe it's fun or maybe it's over done.
Whether you'll be recognizing Dr. Seuss Day (2nd), National Grammar Day (4th), the Iditarod (3rd- 13th or so), Pi Day (14th), Brutus Day (15th), the Ides of March (15th), The Gardner thefts anniversary (17th) or St. Patrick's Day (17th) this month, happy March. May it bring longer days, milder weather, warmth and spring.
