In the knobs, tradition says that the twelve days beginning on December 26 and ending on January 6 are the “ruling days”. On those days, the old people say, the weather in the coming year depends, each day corresponding to a month. Thus, December 26 rules January of the new year, and so on.
Mom usually observes this tradition by writing down what each day’s weather brings. This year, she’s in a skilled nursing facility, receiving physical therapy, and I took it upon myself to write down each day’s weather. The list looks a little something like this:
January (ruled by December 26): Cold, snow laying (the snow we had Christmas Day still hadn’t melted), cloudy and windy.
February (ruled by December 27): snow remaining; bright sun but cold as whiz!
March (ruled by December 28): sunny and cold. (The snow was melting by this day as temps rose.)
April (ruled by December 29): temperatures in the forties, snow melting, but cloudy and no sun.
May (ruled by December 30): warm (temps in the fifties); early clouds, but sunny late in the day.
June (ruled by December 31): warm, with temps in the sixties; cloudy and rain threatening.
July (ruled by January 1): warm, with temps in the sixties and, early in the day, a thunderstorm, lightning, windy, heavy rain.
August (ruled by January 2): sunny and muggy.
September (ruled by January 3): bright and sunny but chilly, with a light breeze and heavy frost.
October (ruled by January 4): dull and cloudy, but sun comes out late in the day; rain moves in late. Late in the day birds were gathering in in great flocks.
November (ruled by January 5): clouded up over a frost. Temps in upper 30s and rain off and on most of the day.
December (ruled by January 6): bright and sunny but cold.
In the course of these twelve days, there were three other interesting (and to knobites, something to keep an eye on) phenomena, the first of which is the thunderstorm that brought in the new year. The old people say that if it thunders in January we’ll have snow within ten days.
Birds gathering in great flocks, noted on January 4, whether perching in trees or on electric wires, is a sign of coming bad weather, says the tradition.
The third, on January 5, is that notation clouded up over a frost; a sign of bad weather, the old people say.
Well, for what it’s worth–meteorologists are forecasting an eighty percent chance of snow in the eastern part of Tennessee tomorrow–well within the ten days heralded by a thunderstorm, and warned of by the birds and clouds over a frost.
As for the rest of it, we’ll just have to wait and see. 😀
Very interesting. Do you know the origin of this tradition? I never heard of it until you mentioned it a while back…
It snows so commonly in January (and February, and March, and April) here that any folkloric “prediction” of it would be greeted with several grains of salt. Thunder snow is always worth a comment, though I don’t know of any living traditions about it in these environs.
Birds gathering — another new one, as well as clouds over frost. (Recalls “Dense clouds, no rain” in the I Ching) The things you learn!
That’s one thing I’ve never been able to track down: where the tradition started, although I wonder if it wasn’t something from one of the “auld countries” which in this particular area would be Scotland, Ireland, England or Germany, with a few French Huguenots and Welsh thrown in.
That one about “thunder in January” I’ve never run across anyplace else, and frankly wonder about, especially given that the tradition specifically mentions “within ten days”.
I remember my maternal grandmother always commented about the birds gathering in and the clouds over a frost. Usually frost happens, as you know, on cold very clear nights, so apparently what happens is that the clouds move in after the frost has already come. And from my own observations I can say, iffy weather usually does follow.
There are a lot of old traditions that have been lost as the knobs & mountains have been more exposed to mass media. This one, since it’s one Mom has always followed (I’m thinking it may have come down to her through her mother’s father’s side of the family; his mother was a “granny woman”), I know–but there were many many more that have just gone. Sad to lose our culture that way, but it happens. 😦
Like Les, and for as long as I can remember, the one thing you can be sure of here is that it will snow in January. Birds gathering as a harbinger of bad weather strikes me as an old tradition, but I’m not sure about that. I don’t know of any local convention involving thundersnow, but I do know we had some last week one day. And you often get clouds and fog, at least for a while, after an overnight frost when the next day is warmer, even without a weather front coming through. However, there was an amazing hoarfrost last week that didn’t affect the roads a bit.
As a junior meteorologist wannabe, I used to keep a garden journal where I tracked changes in the weather to see what patterns emerged, but I gave it up in the dark period. Ironically, we now occupy the same floor as a local company that provides weather media services to TV and radio stations around the country.
Call me corny, but I love weather. So I find this fascinating. 😉
Thanks, AM! Weather is something we pay a good deal of attention to here, mainly because we have a rueful saying–if you don’t like the weather in East Tennessee, wait ten minutes; it’ll change. Partly because of our geographical position, with relatively flat land on one side and mountains on the other–
Having said which, with our first white Christmas in more than forty years and a thunderstorm on New Year’s, I’m inclined to pay more attention to weather patterns right now because those things are out of the ordinary. Climate change deniers might ought to take a look– (^_^)
strange or not, i’ve heard this and thousands of other sayings all my life. my father, grandparents,etc lived their lives by these “signs” . Fair, I would love to write these things down before they’re forgotten forever. my husband and i have argued about this for years. he tells me they are superstitious *#^* , but for me, well…they’re a part me.
I think you already know that I think about said husband’s jeers– (~_-)
In any case, yes, these are part of my heritage, and let the outlanders make fun all they want. Given the choice between being called superstitious and retaining my cultural identity, I’ll retain these things. (Rant over. ::))