St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick (née Maewyn Succat) was a 5th century Brit, abducted as a teenager as a forced laborer and trafficked as a swineherd to Ireland, where he got religion. He later escaped, went to France, and became a priest (at either Lérins Abbey or Auxerre) before returning to proselytize in Ireland. A millennium later, North America’s early Irish immigrants and their descendants began to celebrate the day of his death as a joyous holiday, which seems a wee bit ghoulish.

The party ramped up after the Potato Famine increased Irish immigration to the US in the mid 19th century. St. Patrick’s Day became a celebration of parades, corned beef and cabbage, fiddle music, soda bread, and green beer rather than the solemn saint’s day it had been in the Auld Sod, but that’s America for you. US tourists in Ireland expected a big bash on March 17th, and the host country was glad to oblige, in celebration of greenback dollars. The holiday has now gone global. Faith and begorrah!

A National Georgraphic video.
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Washington’s Birthday

Today is officially Washington’s Birthday (observed) according to the federal government. This date is also known as Presidents’ Day in some states, combining observance of all your favorite chief execs (Millard Fillmore?) into one holiday.

Birthday boy and first president George Washington enslaved 319 human beings in Virginia during his lifetime, but the state’s current governor, Glenn Youngkin, won’t let that be taught in the Old Dominion’s schools. Virginia’s kids will need a field trip to Mount Vernon to learn about it. President Washington also signed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, requiring authorities in free states and territories to allow slave-catchers to seize escaped refugees and transport them back into bondage.

Happy Black History Month.

More:

“George Washington, Slave Catcher,” Erica Armstrong Dunbar, New York Times

Related:

“More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation.” Julie Zauzmer Weil, Adrian Blanco and Leo Dominguez, Washington Post

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Image (“George Washington Observes Black History Month”) by Mike Licht. Download a free copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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February 14th

 

It’s Valentine’s Day. Love & Happiness, y’all.

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Groundhog Day

It’s February 2nd, time to monitor Marmota monax  (on Zoom this year) and dream of winter’s end. Whether or not you believe in woodchuck weathermen, one thing is certain: you can’t have groundhogs if you want a backyard full of fresh garden veggies.

Groundhogs (aka woodchucks, whistlepigs, and marmots) are insecto-vegetarians and confirmed locavores. If you plan to plant this spring, harvest those hairy beasts now. Celebrate Groundhog Day with critter cuisine.

Serving suggestions:

Woodchuck au Vin

Canadian Fried Woodchuck

Groundhog Pie

Woodchuck Recipes from Michigan (Oriental Groundhog,Waco Groundhog in Sour Cream,Woodchuck Stew, Woodchuck Meat Loaf)

More groundhog lore and recipes here and here.

In his book Groundhog Day, Don Yoder reprints a classic  groundhog recipe from Cooking with the Groundhog, published as a fundraiser by a hospital auxiliary in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, home of the  “official” Groundhog’s Day Festival (there are more than a few others ). A Georgia groundhog is on Twitter.

A dozen years ago, whilst stalking the elusive picture book Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts the Weather, we espied an ad for the Range Kleen Preseasoned Cast Iron 10 Inch Fry Pan on the book’s Amazon.com page and cooked up today’s graphic. There’s obviously no “storybook ending” to this post if you’re a groundhog.

Updates:

“Milltown Mel, a celebrity groundhog, dies just before Groundhog Day,” Bill Chappell, NPR News

“Groundhogs Do Not Make Good Meteorologists,” Simran Parwani and Kaleigh Rogers, FiveThirtyEight

Related:

“Eight Things You Didn’t Know About Groundhogs,” Jason G. Goldman, Scientific American blog

“Groundhogs and Ground Squirrels: Winter Prognosticators,”  Sharol Nelson-Embry, Quest

“40 years of groundhog forecasts, mapped,” Kennedy Elliott and Shelly Tan, Washington Post

“Punxsutawney Phil: incompetent — or evil?” Phil Edwards, Vox

“Depressed Groundhog Sees Shadow Of Rodent He Once Was,”The Onion

“Where Did Groundhog Day Come From? ” Mental Floss

“A Short History of Groundhog Day,” Danny Lewis, Smithsonian.com

“Groundhog Day Explained,” CGP Grey (video)

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Image (“Marmot sauté, after John James Audubon”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Year of the Rabbit

Happy Lunar New Year (Spring Festival). It’s the Year of the Rabbit in China, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Korea, but the Year of the Cat in Vietnam. Either way, the holday lasts until the Lantern Festival on February 5th. If that’s not enough partying for you, the Mongolian Lunar New Year is February 21st (same for Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of India). It’s the Year of the Rabbit (“Water Hare”) there, too.

More:

“Lunar New Year: What to expect as we hop into the Year of the Rabbit,” Adela Suliman, Washington Post

“From Chinese to Tibetan, all the most delicious Lunar New Year dishes explained,” Eileen Cho, NBC News

“While many ring in the Year of the Rabbit, Vietnam celebrates the cat,”Suzanne Nuyen, NPR News

“All you need to know about the Year of the Rabbit,” Brian Wang, South China Morning Post

Note: Japan hasn’t celebrated Lunar New Year since 1873.

Update:

“For the first time, the White House celebrates the Lunar New Year,” Simon Druker, UPI

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Top Image (“Lunar Year of the Rabbit, after Georges-Louis Leclerc”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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New Year’s Resolution

“New Year’s Resolution,” written by Randle Catron, Willa Dean “Deanie” Parker, and Mary Frierson; recorded by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas in 1968.

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After New Years Eve

“After New Years Eve,” written by James Sheppard and William Miller, recorded by The Heartbeats, 1957.

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This Is the New Year

“This Is the New Year,” written by Ian Axel and performed by him with Chad King as A Great Big World. in 2012. Video director: Leiv Parton.

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Auld Lang Syne Boogie

“Auld Lang Syne Boogie,” recorded by the jump blues band of sax player Freddie Mitchell in 1949. Rip Harrington is on piano.

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Corrido de Auld Lang Syne

“Corrido de Auld Lang Syne” by Little Bobby Rey and his Band, an early LA Chicano pop band (also called “The Masked Phantom Band”) in about 1960. “Corrido” here means the music is in a galloping rhythm. Mr. Rey learned the saxophone from Earl Bostic.

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