All About Me…

Yes…I finally updated this section of my blog.  Check it out!

All you need is love

 

Ahh Valentine’s Day – a day for lovers, for friends, for family, for chocolate.  I remember in elementary school how excited everyone got for the Valentine’s Day party.  Everyone made and decorated these big envelopes to hang off the edge of their desk.  It was then time to walk around giving everyone in the class a personally addressed Valentine card.  Some cards even had lollipops attached to them!  (Those were my favorite kind.)  Next, the teacher would hand out heart shaped cookies, cupcakes with pink and red sprinkles, and fruit punch.  We’d all get a sugar high, of course by that time school would be over, so we’d all have to go home to burn our energy.  Oh, our lucky parents!   

Valentine’s Day has never been quite the same since those elementary days.  I mean, sure, all the sweets are still involved and in some cases the cards, but oftentimes when a person is not in a relationship, that person is extremely bitter towards the holiday.  I just don’t understand this bitterness.  Who cares if you’re not in a relationship?  Isn’t there someone who you’re close to?  Isn’t there a friend, a relative, a child who you care enough for to say “Happy Valentine’s Day” to or give a box of chalk-flavored candy hearts to?  (By the way, I happen to enjoy those chalky “fax me” candies!)  Okay okay, there are some people who may be bitter because Valentine’s Day is “just a product of the greeting card industry”, but so what if it is?  People may not realize the actual history of Saint Valentine, but what’s so bad about celebrating love?  

Disclaimer:  I know Valentine’s Day was about a week ago, but I was having issues with my computer this past week and could not get to this document.  What I do is write my blog on a Word document to save and then I copy and paste it to my site.  So, sorry for the delay!                         

Groundhog Day

Last Saturday, February 2^nd, was Groundhog Day – a German superstition/Christian holiday that predicts how long our winter will last.  This year, in the U.S., winter will last an extra six weeks.  In Germany, however, spring is just around the corner.  I was reading a news article about Groundhog Day 2008, and apparently this is the third year in a row that the two groundhogs’ predictions were not the same.               

You may have wondered, when did it come to the point that people, especially Pennsylvanians, began relying on whether or not a hibernating animal saw its shadow to determine the length of winter?  Well, the tradition derived from a Scottish poem:           

As the light grows longer           

The cold grows stronger           

 If Candlemas be fair and bright           

Winter will have another flight           

If Candlemas be cloud and snow           

Winter will be gone and not come again           

A farmer should on Candlemas day           

Have half his corn and half his hay           

On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop          

You can be sure of a good pea crop           

A strong superstition in Europe, German immigrants brought the legend with them to the United States.  Since the late 1800s, a groundhog in Punxsutawney (Phil) has been the center of a staged appearance each year on Groundhog Day.  Thanks, Phil, for the extra long winter this year!!!

Lucky number 3

Wow. So this is my third blog today. I wonder if three blogs in one day can be considered good luck(?). Maybe eventually – I can see it now, the superstitions of the technological age. Eureka! I can even make up some of my own superstitions and they will pass on, as most superstitions do, by word of mouth! Okay okay, here’s one for you: If you turn a computer on more than 4 times in a 4 hour period, bad fortune will follow you for the next 4 weeks.

Here’s history in the making…at least a superstition in the making.

Anyway, I am about to watch the movie Sleepers. If you have not seen it, stop reading this now as I might just ruin the story for you. Moving on, this film really has a strong argument for the notion “what goes around comes around.” The movie follows four boys who are treated callously by some guards, but who live to seek revenge on these guards thirteen years later. In this movie, the notion holds true. I do realize that this is not really a superstition, rather a commonly held ideology that parents tell their children in order to ensure that they will be nice and well-behaved. What’s interesting to me is that if you think about it, superstitions and ideologies are very similar. Superstitions are stories passed on from family to family, generation to generation. They are stories meant to prevent (or cause) a person to take certain action, otherwise be prepared to face the consequences (or reap the benefits). Ideologies are also passed on from parent to child, etc. and have similar intentions. This is something I would like to analyze more later…but for now, I want to get to the movie.

Good night!

rabbit, rabbit, rabbit

I just realized that today is February 1st and I didn’t say “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit” when I first woke up. Hopefully this won’t be a bad month for me!

Even though I honestly do not believe that reciting this word three times will bring me a month of good luck, there have been several first of the months when I have been awake at midnight and said aloud “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit.” I can’t even remember where I heard that superstition from. I think it was on a talk radio show. Hmm…well I just ran a google search of this folklore and some sources say that it has been around since 15th century England. One variation of this superstition is that you must be the first to say it to a person on the first of month and if someone says it to you first, you will have bad luck forever! (just kidding…you’ll only have bad luck for the month)

Anyway, happy February 1st!

It’s bad luck to be superstitious…(?)

Though I try to convince myself that I don’t believe in superstitions, I can’t help but knock on wood when I want to avoid something bad from happening, be more cautious on Friday the 13th, and make certain to blow out my birthday candles in one breath. Sometimes I try to forget about “luck” and when I see a penny, I walk right passed it…but I always end up turning back to pick it up.

Really though, what’s so bad about that? If something as simple as picking up a penny just might bring me good fortune, I don’t see why not take a few seconds to kneel down and pick it up (only if heads is facing up, of course).