Thursday, January 6

Onward To Pansy Magic -

I got unexpectedly busy today, but not too busy to note that January 6th is the most widely accepted date in the West to mark Epiphany, which is also known as Trois Rois or Twelfth Night.

It means that it's time to take down the Christmas decorations if you've left yours up til now, because this is the end of the Yule Season and the traditional end of Christmas. The stores have already started to redecorate for Valentine Day - hint hint!

What about the outside lights? Some people find the long winter nights too gloomy; they prefer to leave their lights up for a while longer.

When I was a young child, this occasion was a signal to start preparing to put up your pansies. They took longer to come into flower and melted out with the onset of summer heat.

Today's pansies have undergone hybridization processing. They come into flower in a shorter period of time, so that they don't need to be started as early. But, since pansies are something to look forward to in spring, Pansy Magic was an exciting time of the year.

We used to put them up in an old cardboard shoebox that still had a lid. Once planted and covered, they were carefully placed in the back of a seldom-used closet for a couple of weeks. One was absolutely not allowed to peek or open the box for 14 days.

What was going on in there? Pansy Magic. It had two requirements: darkness and secrecy. At the end of exactly 14 days, we were allowed to open the box. We would always squeal with delight at the results we discovered and we would always exclaim: Pansies!

Have a happy whatever you celebrate!

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