August Cat Nights

"Cat Nights Begin (August 17): This term harks back to the age when people believed in witches. An old Irish legend says that a witch could turn into a cat and regain herself eight times, but on the ninth time, August 17, she couldn't change back, hence the saying, 'a cat has nine lives'. Because August is a 'yowly' time for cats, this may have prompted the speculation about witches on the prowl."

Well, there has to be something, I guess. The Dog Days of summer ran from 3 July (which should make them the Dog Days of July) to 11 August. The Farmer's Almanac reads, "These are the hottest and most unhealthy days of the year. Also known as the Canicular Days, their name derives from the Dog Star, Sirius. The traditional period of the Dog Days is 40 days, beginning July 3 and ending August 11, that coincide with the heliacal (at sunrise) rising of Sirius."

Oh, come now. You didn't thing that the word Sirius is only a type of satellite signal, did you?

The Farmer's Almanac has all kinds of fun tidbits that I pull for trivia and for messages in the paychecks. Ember days, Corncetasious Air, Dog Days, Cat Nights, Halcyon days... we've got it all! I love the strange things that people believed at some point. Halcyon days are about 14 days in December of calm weather that were supposedly caused by the kingfisher brooding. Tell me that weirdness isn't interesting?

OK, raise an eyebrow and thumb your nose at this. But the next time you are feeling critical of old beliefs, let's look at some of the stranger-than-fiction things in Catholicism.

The Assumption. What are we assuming or do Cathololics not know the true usage of the word? The Web site I found reads the Assumption of Mary's physical body into heaven. OK. Still lost. To assume means to "believe to be true, especially without proof". Hmmm. I guess that is in keeping with the whole Catholic idealogy - believing things that are not feasible.

Shrove Tuesday. Just when you couldn't think it could get worse, it can. There is actually a Shrove Sunday and Shrove Monday. Three shrove days. "Shrove" is the past tense of "shrive", which means "to hear or receive a confession, assign a penance and receive absolution". And we are naming a day this (or three days - typical religious overkill)? Aren't you supposed to confess regularly? I thought so, but hey, what do I know? Catholic I am not. And this is followed by Mardi Gras... talk about needing to confess!

Divine Mercy Sunday. Oh, yes, history is rife with the amount of divine mercy the Catholic church has shown. Do you really want to go down that road?

Corpus Christi. "The Feast of Corpus Christi, or the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (as it is often called today), goes back to the 13th century." Now, that is just ghoulish. I mean, seriously. Yuck. There is no way to make that sound good. Or something to feast over.

OK, I guess that is enough making fun of that. Time to see if LogMeIn123 is really that good!