Okay, I’m biased. February is my birth month. I liked being a February baby, maybe because it’s an oddball, quirky month and I was an oddball quirky kid – a left-handed, redheaded tomboy. It’s a short month that gets the longest mention in that familiar rhyme.

And guess what? 2024 is a Leap Year, so we get to enjoy a whole extra day of this fabulous month. My birth month takes a lot of flack. People complain because it’s cold and snowy. They even complain about its name. Granted, it is a bit awkward. Feb-RU-ary? The hosts of ‘As It Happens’ on CBC always make fun of the ‘RU’ part. And I always mean to write a letter explaining that, according to Webster, Feb-yoo-wary is also an acceptable pronunciation. Me? I usually blend it together and mumble something like Feb-oo-ary.

Given how many times I’ve hear people dis February, I am dedicating this blog to celebrating February – however you say it. I usually try to use my own photos, but I’m making an exception for this exceptional month. Credits at the end of the blog.

Groundhog Day. What other month boasts such a silly ritual? It makes no sense. Especially in Canada where, except on the west coast, the idea of only six more weeks of winter in February is as hilarious as the idea that a rodent’s shadow can forecast the weather. And now it’s a movie. A movie that repeats. And repeats. Every Groundhog Day.

Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar and shifts around, but in 2024 it’s on February 10th. This is the Year of the Dragon and should be a colourful celebration. My son has Welsh blood, and the Welsh are also big on dragons. In fact, they like them so much they put one on their flag.

February is the month for the Winter Olympics. No Winter Olympics this year, but Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics and it was a whole lotta fun. My young son and I went to see the ski jumping and witnessed the debut of Eddie the Eagle. No one could appreciate the true distance these athletes flew until Eddie from England landed so far short that we were all astonished. Then we applauded and cheered. Eddie was dubbed ‘the Eagle’ and became a popular favourite. We admire winners, but we love underdogs. And speaking of underdogs, that was also the year of the Jamaican Bobsleigh team. Another February movie was born.

In 1990 Alberta became the first province to declare a statutory holiday in February. And it just so happened that it fell on my birthday that year. I was pretty chuffed. Don’t we all feel like we should have a holiday on our birthday? Since then many other provinces have followed suit. Now we have Heritage Day in Nova Scotia, and, as it happens, it falls on my birthday this year. Somehow it’s not quite as exciting now that I’m retired.

Valentine’s Day, on February 14th, is also less exciting for me now, at least in terms of getting cards and flowers and such. (Ah, there was a day …) But this day is very special for another reason – it’s the anniversary of my two favourite people. This day of love marks the years of love between them. And as anniversaries go, it’s an easy one to remember.

February has a few other anniversaries that are personally meaningful. Back in 2003, after a few months of negotiation, I finally bought my land in Cape Breton. By chance, the deal closed on my birthday – and what a fantastic birthday present it was! I moved onto the land in the summer of 2004. Ten years later, on Feb 7, 2014, I moved from my yurt into my comfy log home. Hard to believe that 2024 marks 10 years in my cozy cabin.

For winter haters, February can be abysmal. It can be the coldest and snowiest month of the year. But for winter lovers, February is the time to enjoy skiing, skating, sledding or snowshoeing, followed by a warm drink by a cozy fire. My favourite winter activity is tracking animals on snowshoes. I wrote about this in The Secret Lives of Animals. The snow reveals who is out and about. Snowshoes allow me to bushwhack through the forest following those tracks and find out where those animals came from and where they are going.

Like most children, I loved winter and had tons of fun in the snow. I also had the great good fortune to grow up skiing. My English father took up the sport and took my older brother and me skiing in the Rocky Mountains every Sunday, from opening day until the last of the spring skiing. Other kids had to go to church, we worshiped at the alter of the mountains. The highlight of the ski season was in February, when schools closed for Teachers Convention, giving us a four-day break. We’d meet up with my dad’s friend and his daughter and spend all four days skiing. We’d start in Kimberley, BC, and then drive down to Whitefish, Montana, to ski amongst the towering snow ghosts on Big White. In the evenings my friend Ann and I felt very sophisticated as we sipped our Shirley Temples.

But winter isn’t all fun and games. It can be difficult and challenging. When the third nor’easter in a week dumps a load of wet heavy snow, when we get weary of toting firewood to keep the stove going, when vehicles are buried and roads are treacherous. And then there’s the short days and those long nights. That’s where February, while it may be cold and snowy, has a special pick-me-up for winter-weary folk – we reach the midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox.

The Gaels celebrate this occasion on February 1st with the traditional festival of Imbolc, also known as St. Brigid’s Day. In 2024 the midpoint falls on February 3rd. And while it’s true that the days start getting a wee bit longer after winter solstice, it’s in February that I really notice the days stretching out and the sun getting higher. In my yurt I would mark the day when the sun would get high enough to shine through the overhead dome. The yurt was like a mini Stonehenge, marking seasonal changes within its circle. I still track the northward progression of the sun by watching where it sets behind the highlands. This photo was taken the eve of February 1st.

On clear nights in February I see the winter constellation Orion heading for the hills in the west as Leo rises in the east, heralding the news that spring, while not here yet, is coming. I once read this phrase about February in the Farmer’s Almanac: ‘Winter’s back is broken‘. That’s how it feels to me. It may be the month of the full Snow Moon, but the days are longer, the sun is higher, and while there is almost certainly a lot more than six weeks of winter to go, it’s time to embrace the winter wonderland knowing that it won’t last forever.

So strap on your snowshoes or skates, or maybe just bundle up for a bracing walk. Then enjoy a hot toddy or hot chocolate by the fire and immerse yourself in that big fat book you’ve been meaning to read. Put on a pot of soup or start a jigsaw puzzle or kiss a groundhog. February is fabulous, but it’s short – so don’t miss a minute!

Sue McKay Miller
February 2nd, 2024

p.s. What did I forget? Let me know a few of your favourite things about February in the comments below.

Photos from pixel.com: Groundhog by Oleg Mikhailenko; Chinese dragon by Vlad Vasnetsov; Welsh flag by Lisa Fotios; Ski jumper by Todd Trapani.