Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Pay Attention To The "Ember Days"...!


I know many folks don't hold much with telling weather using Folk Lore, but I figure it never hurts to cover all the bases.

Besides, the local weather guys don't do all that well...if you know what I mean! All of the modern equipment, all the images from space, all the computer models and they still only get it right about 50% of the time!

I'm using the Old Farmer's Almanac because their record, using folk lore and old time methods, is nearly just as good! Besides, it's a lot more fun using the Almanac! Things being what they are now days, I'll take my fun whenever and where ever I can!

It would be nice to live in a place where we had some fall, but here on the coast we usually go from Summer one day... straight into Winter the next. The joys of Texas weather!

Ember Days

The Almanac traditionally marks the four periods formerly observed by the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches for prayer, fasting, and the ordination of clergy.

These Ember Days are the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays that follow in succession after (1) the First Sunday in Lent; (2) Whitsunday–Pentecost; (3) the Feast of the Holy Cross, September 14; and (4) the Feast of St. Lucia, December 13. The word ember is perhaps a corruption of the Latin quatuor tempora, "four times."

Folklore has it that the weather on each of the three days foretells the weather for three successive months; that is, for September’s Ember Days, Wednesday forecasts weather for October, Friday for November, and Saturday for December.


Now you know what the Ember Days are! Wasn't that a lot more fun than watching some boring ol' weather guy on television? Ya know, if you go on over to their website, you can get a hard copy of the almanac to hold and read while the Winter winds are blowing...or when you just need some reading material for the "Library"! You know where I mean, right?

Now, my friends, let's get some fresh coffee and sit outside for a bit!

10 comments:

Ben in Texas said...

Shoot , for winter weather predictions I just look for woolly worms and see how woolly they are!

And of course watch the birds, if they are out and about in the rain, I know it will last for sometime, if they aren't then it'll be a short rain and they can get back to their feeding or what ever.

As for how cold it'll get, I call my propane company and see how much propane they are selling!! :-)

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

The Farmer's Almanac is some great reading, HJ. We keep a current copy in the bathroom and learn some pretty fascinating things. I've been catching up on blog posts since being away visiting my mom in NJ all of last week - sure takes time to get back into everything. Too bad you don't have change of seasons there. We are finally getting cooler temps here on the VA eastern shore and they are a welcome relief, but not so the leaves starting to fall.

HermitJim said...

Hey Ben...
Never thought about just calling the propane company!

The wooly worms were covered in the Almanac before, as were the birds!Always learn something new, I guess!

Thanks for coming by today, buddy!


Hey Beatrice...
Glad to hear you're back home all safe and sound! Hope you had a good visit at your Mom's!

Guess we trade off the really brutal cold Winters by not having much of a Fall!

Welcome back...and thanks for comingt by today!

JoJo said...

Good Morning My Special Teacher,
Thanks for the lesson on Ember Days. I should start looking up stuff too. I sure would love to see the leaves turn up here but I don't think I will be here long enough this year.
Can you pass the pot please its a little chilly but not bad this morning.

HermitJim said...

Hey JoJo...
So, I take it you are going to be headed back home before too long?

I keep forgetting you are a traveling woman now...with a Summer and a Winter place!

Glad you could drop by today, sweetie!

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your blog.
Never heard of this.
I look to the sky and watch the chemtrails.
andy

HermitJim said...

Hey Andy...
Glad you enjoyed the post and the blog. Always good to have someone find something of use here!

I sure appreciate you taking the time to drop by today!

Stephanie in AR said...

One of the old timers used to write a weekly column in the local paper, come August she would have folks count the morning fogs. The number of morning fogs was supposed to predict the number of coming winter snows. Too bad she passed on before all the bad weather we've had the past few years, it would have been interesting to see how the counts stood.

HermitJim said...

Hey Stephanie...
Good to see you again!

Ya know, sometimes the old ways do pretty good in forecasting! It would have been interesting indeed to see how she did in the fog count!

Thanks, friend, for stopping in today!

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