Another greeting card from Ann Burlingham, this one for the American 2/2 holiday, Groundhog Day (see my 2/2/15 posting “Back-to-back American holidays”, with a section on the groundhog; the American holiday; and the movie Groundhog Day):
(#1) The Hester & Cook greeting card “Phil’s Great Adventure” by Vicki Sawyer, celebrating Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog seer of Punxsutawney PA — here represented as wearing a bunch of scallions on his head (the headdress thing is a Sawyer feature; more below)
Wearing scallions of course evoked wearing leeks and took me to yet another holiday, 3/1 instead of 2/2: St. David’s Day, celebrating the patron saint of Wales.
And that bounced me back to the Christian feast day for 2/2: Candlemas Day (one of those Christian holidays I don’t venture to try to explain to people).
3/1 St. David’s Day. Summary in my 3/2/15 posting “St. David’s Day”. And then the leeks; from the British Army site on 3/1/16:
(#2) To celebrate St. David’s Day the Royal Welsh soldiers wear a leek on their berets alongside the customary white hackle
Scallion, leek, they’re all alliums.
2/2 Candlemas. From Wikipedia:
Candlemas … is a Christian holiday commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. It is based upon the account of the presentation of Jesus in Luke 2:22–40. In accordance with Leviticus 12, a woman was to be purified by presenting a lamb as a burnt offering, and either a young pigeon or dove as sin offering, 33 days after a boy’s circumcision [the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ falls on January 1st]. It falls on 2 February, which is traditionally the 40th day of and the conclusion of the Christmas–Epiphany season.
(There is, unfortunately, still more.)
More Vicki Sawyer. Two more of her entertaining compositions:
(#3) “Nevermore Raven”, with the carrots of Poe
(#4) “Party at the Feeder”, a party of five birds
February 6, 2022 at 7:57 am |
I probably would not know about the wearing of leeks on St. David’s Day if I had not read Henry V in my youth. (On the other hand, it was many years after I read it that I realized that the name of the Welsh captain featured in the relevant scene, Fluellen, is Shakespeare’s rendering of the name generally spelled “Llewellyn ” these days.)
February 6, 2022 at 8:32 am |
Shakespeare’s Fluellen and the voiceless lateral fricative (and dragons, leeks, and daffodils) are discussed in my St. David’s Day posting, which I forbore from reproducing in this Vicki Sawyer posting.
February 8, 2022 at 8:49 am |
My favorite tea mug is a Vicki Sawyer of a bunny with a turnip on its head.