There may be fewer days in February than in other months, but there is an abundance of things to observe, celebrate or wonder about. Some are important, others frivolous. Many are new, a few have been changed to more “convenient” dates.
When I was a schoolgirl, we celebrated Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February 12th, and George Washington’s on the 22nd. They have been combined and renamed Presidents’ Day, now celebrated on the third Monday of the month (this year, the 16th.) That gives a good many people another of those long weekends and prevents us from having to celebrate a growing number of other presidential birthdays throughout the year – a good idea, as we already have far too many of those “Official National” holidays when government employees get the day off and the rest of us have to go to work as usual.
We’re all aware of Groundhog Day and Valentine’s Day, but did you know that the 13th is Galentine’s Day? It’s meant to celebrate those great friendships that we women seem to hold onto for a lifetime; a good time to write or phone your BFF and remind her that you still appreciate all the kindness, support, good times and loyalty she’s shown you for a lifetime. A good time to reminisce about the time you pierced each other’s ears, borrowed sweaters, plotted to meet that new boy in school, smoothed over a big disappointment or studied all night for an important test.
The 7th is Send a card to a Friend Day. Super Bowl Sunday is the 8th. The 9th is National Pizza Day. Wetlands Day is the 10th..International Day of Women in Science is the 11th. On the 23rd you can celebrate Hug Day in case you didn’t get enough hugs on Valentine’s Day or Galentine’s Day. It’s also World Radio Day. We seem to have abandoned the radio as the necessity it played in our lives in past years. A lot of dedicated people still work hard at bringing us news, entertainment and other information, especially on our local level. Without local radio, we would lose an important link with our community, as we would without our local newspapers. It is important to support them and their sponsors and advertisers.
A number of things lay claim to the whole month of February, just in case you’re still looking for something to celebrate; this is American Heart Month, and Black History Month as well as including the Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy from the 16th to the 22nd. The Chinese declare the whole year to be the Year of the Fire Horse – an especially lucky year for new beginnings and characterized by passion, dynamism, independence, freedom and a number of other positive attitudes.
If you’ve been to Australia, you might know about Tim-Tam Day. Tim-Tams are apparently a type of cookie sharing the stature of the American Oreo, though different. The manufacturers suggest you celebrate by finding new ways to enjoy the cookie, such as biting off two corners and using the cookie like a straw to sip a sweet drink. I doubt that that would work with Oreos, but you might try finding a new way to enjoy them as a substitute for Tim-Tams. Or you could just wait until next month for Oreo Cookie Day on the 6th.
The days are beginning to get a bit longer and we usually get a few whiffs of spring during the latter part of the month. When we lived in Iowa City, I had an elderly neighbor who had lived in the same house since the day she was married and had a well-established garden of perennials including rhubarb, asparagus, berry bushes, fruit trees and grape vines. I remember her telling me that “Those first nice days in February are when you should get out there and prune the grapevines,” though we had no grapevines. I learned, after we moved to the country, that it is a good time to prune most fruit trees and maples, though some late springs I’ve wondered just what nice days she was talking about.