Welcome to February, considered by some to be the last month of winter, although Kansas electric co-ops will dispute that as winter storms have been known to wreak havoc well into May. Even February’s full moon on the 27th this year is called the Snow Moon because of the heavy snowfall typically experienced this month.
The word February derives from the Latin word februa, which means “to cleanse.” Appropriate, I think, as we continue to scrub our hands and wipe surfaces ad nauseum to avoid catching COVID-19.
For the shortest month of the calendar, February packs a potpourri of events into its petite framework as if to prove itself among its bigger bookend months of January and March. February kicks off with Groundhog Day and the Super Bowl and goes right into the Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, Presidents Day and then Mardi Gras. The month itself is dedicated to African-American history (see Page 7 for information about a collaborative web portal project dedicated to celebrating Black History Month.)
February celebrates the birthdays of Langston Hughes and Frederick Douglass (Feb. 1), Rosa Parks (Feb. 4), Laura Ingalls Wilder (Feb. 7), Thomas Edison (Feb. 11), Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12), Susan B. Anthony (Feb. 15), and George Washington (Feb. 22).
February is also one of the most frequently misspelled words in the English language, along with chaos, canceled and Caribbean. (What do you say we cancel the chaos of COVID-19 and head to the Caribbean?)
Another difficult to spell word is one I will be using frequently as soon as the pandemic is no longer a part of our everyday vernacular: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Let’s hope 2021 embraces the warm winds of spring on time to allow for safer outdoor gatherings soon.
