This same saying can be found in an Italian nursery rhyme about the months:

Gennaio con febbraio fa il paio
febbraietto freddo e maledetto,
marzo è pazzo,
aprile dolce dormire,
maggio è paggio,
giugno la falce in pugno,
luglio canta il cuculo,
agosto moglie mia non ti conosco,
settembre la notte al dì contende,
ottobre chi vuole si copre,
novembre all’inverno si arrende,
dicembre, davanti ti ghiaccia
e dietro t’offende.

Here’s an English Translation:

January and February are a couple,
Little February, cursed and cold,
March is crazy,
April’s sweetly sleeping,
May is the valet,
June, the scythe in hand,
July, the cuckoo sings,
August, my wife, I don’t know you*,
September, the night fights the day**,
October, whoever wants covers himself up,
November surrenders to winter,
December, freezes you in the front
and batters you on the back.

*Meaning that the husband is so busy with work in August that he doesn’t have a minute for his wife.
**Meaning that now the nights will last longer than the days.

Here are some interesting Italian proverbs about March (and April) with English translations:

Come marzo s’avvicina, tutti gli umori si risentono.
As March draws near, all moods are affected.

Marzo cambia sette cappelli al giorno.
March changes seven hats a day.

Marzo ha comprato la pelliccia a sua madre, ma tre giorni dopo l’ha venduta.
March bought the fur coat for his mother, but three days later sold it.

Da marzo ad aprile c’è poco da dire.
From March to April there is little to say.

Marzo pazzerello guarda il sole e prendi l’ombrello.
Crazy March, look at the sun and take an umbrella.

Marzo tinge e Aprile dipinge
March dyes and April paints

Nel marzo, un sole e un guazzo
In March, some sun and a puddle.

Watch out for that crazy March weather!

Thanks to Monique Palomares of the French version of Mama Lisa’s World for helping with the Italian!

Feel free to share any sayings you know about March, in any language, in the comments below.

Ciao!

Mama Lisa

Rain, rain, go away,
And come again another day,
When I brew and when I bake,
I’ll give you a little cake.

Stay dry!

Mama Lisa

PS You can tell it’s raining where I am and that I’m considering baking something yummy!

Both seem to have developed from an ancient Celtic festival called Imbolc. Imbolc festivities involved lighting fires, in part in honor of Brigid, the Goddess of fertility, love and fire. Imbolc also celebrated the fact that the days would become longer and the sun stronger over the next few months.

Candlemas, Groundhog Day and Imbolc are all celebrated at the mid point between the Winter Solstice and the first day of Spring. They all involve the hope of good weather for the next 6 weeks… the remainder of winter.

I suppose this is why pancakes and crepes are the preferred foods for Candlemas… they’re round and yellow, like the longed for sun.

If you’ve ever wondered why it’s hard to remember how the weather on this day predicts the weather for the rest of the winter, it’s because all of the Candlemas and Groundhog Day sayings are counterintuitive. They say that if the weather is nice on February 2nd the rest of the winter will be colder, more severe. If the weather on the 2nd is crummy, the rest of the winter is supposed to have nice weather.

As for the groundhog, if he sees his shadow, that means it’s a sunny day on February 2nd and the myth is that the rest of the winter will be colder. So we all hope he will not see his shadow and that February 2nd will have miserable weather!

For Christians, Candlemas is the day that candles are blessed in churches. Another symbol of fire! So people put lit candles in their windows in honor of the day.

Lastly, this day is called the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary. It was believed that after giving birth women were unclean. They had to be purified 40 days after their child was born. Thus Candlemas is 40 days after Jesus was born, when Mary would have been purified.

Here are some rhymes and proverbs for Candlemas and groundhog day…

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight

If on Candlemas Day it be shower and rain,
Winter is gone and will not come again.

If Candlemas Day be damp and black,
It will carry cold winter away on its back.

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There’ll be two winters in the year.

If the groundhog sees his shadow
We will have six more weeks of Winter.
If he doesn’t see his shadow,
We will have an early Spring.

Groundhog Day Half your Hay

(Meaning you’d better have half of your hay left to feed the animals, because you’re only half-way through the winter)

Happy Candlemas and Happy Groundhog Day!

Lisa

Friday, October 14, 2005

It’s raining for the seventh day here in New York. A couple of days ago, it was a bit warmer. My daughter couldn’t wait to use her Sesame Street umbrella. So I let her go out back with my son and just play in the rain. It was a nice moment, and it reminded me of my own childhood, splashing through puddles.

So, here’s a very popular rain song from when I was a child in the seventies. It’s still sung by children today…

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rain, rain, go away,
Come again some other day

Nowadays I’ll add…

Lila and Mommy want to play,
So come again some other day.

Here’s a funny poem about rain that I found…

The Rain

The rain it raineth every day,
Upon the just and unjust fella,
But more upon the just, because
The unjust hath the just’s umbrella

Here’s one last one, an amusing Mother Goose nursery rhyme…

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester*

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain,
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again.

*Gloucester is pronounced as “gloster” and rhymes with Foster.

Hope all you readers out there are staying dry, or even better, that you have nice weather!

If anyone would like to send me a poem, rhyme or song about the rain. I’d be happy to post it here. Please email me.

Come visit Mama Lisa’s House of Nursery Rhymes for more Mother Goose Rhymes about the rain.

I, personally, will be looking for songs and rhymes about the sun!

-Lisa