“Many are the stars I see, but in my eye no star like thee.” By noah Salt
Popular English Valentine message, The Good Husbandry Almanac, 1677
Winter Stars for Dummies Boy’s Life, the redoubtable resource on all important matters of civilization relating to the happy boyhood of the Almanac Gardener and millions of other Boy Scouts, offers a sure-fire and simplified way of reading the major constellations of the winter stars. Here’s the scoop. First find the Big Dipper in the winter night sky, the easiest body of stars to identify. It resembles an antique well dipper and is part of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. At the high end of the dipper sit two “pointer stars” that will allow you to draw a straight line to Polaris, the North Star, which serves as the end of the Little Dipper’s handle, aka Ursa Minor. From the North Star, you can draw a line to five stars that form a distinct “M” to the left and slightly higher in the sky, the constellation Cassiopeia — the Queen of the classical firmament. Turn around and you’ll see three dominant stars shining, forming the belt of Orion, the great hunter. Follow a line down and to the left — slightly east in the middle evening sky — and you’ll see Sirius, the bright star marking Canis Major, the Great Dog constellation. Trace Orion’s belt up to the right — west, by turns — and you come to the V-shaped constellation known as Taurus the Bull. Consider yourself a veteran star traveler now. Your merit badge is in the mail.
The Art & Soul of Greensboro
St. Valentine Unplugged Like most commercialized American holidays, Valentine’s Day contains vestiges of both Christian and Roman tradition, the most appealing romantic legend evolving from a 3rd century priest named Valentine who secretly married young soldiers to their beloveds after Emperor Claudius II — believing unwed soldiers were more effective — banned marriage for young men. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, he was put to death. Another part of the legend holds that shortly before his death, Valentine fell in love with his jailer’s daughter and sent her a love letter revealing his passion for her shortly before he was executed. The common view is that Christian authorities, who assumed lasting power in the early 5th century, declared the man a saint and established St. Valentine’s feast day in the ides of February primarily to “Christianize” the popular pagan festival called Lupercalia, a fertility festival in which Roman priests would gather at a cave where legend held the city’s founders, Romulus and Remus, were nurtured by a mother wolf, or Lupa. Following the sacrifice of a goat and a dog to symbolize purity, strips of skin were dipped in sacrificial blood and carried through the streets where young women were eager to be gently slapped and marked with blood — believing this only enhanced their fertility. Afterward their names would be placed in an urn and chosen by eligible bachelors — often leading to marriage. By the Middle Ages, St. Valentine’s Day was one of the most popular feast days in Europe, when the first Valentine’s greetings were sent out usually in the form of poetry. The oldest Valentine card was a love poem written by the Duke of Orleans to his wife after being imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1415. The first mass-produced cards in America appeared shortly before the Civil War, made of lace, ribbons and colorful pictures. Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, more than one billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent annually, 85 percent of which are purchased by women, making this the second largest card-sending holiday. OH
February 2013
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