Hari Om
'Freedays' are the 'gather our thoughts' days; Q&As; a general review of the week so far…
The Romans, many centuries ago, considered this period of the year to be not worth the naming. Eventually, as marking time became ever more of interest, mathematical and astronomical prowess grew, they began to sort their 'kalends, nones and ides' into a format closer to that with which we are familiar today. It involved adding in an extra couple of months, as there had been only ten, to begin with.
Februarius was the tacked-to-the-end month, according to them, as March was the first month, being the time of Mars, God of War. This changed when emperor Numa Pompilius decided that Janus, for whom he had named January, ought to start the year, he being the God of Peace and Arts. February was really only there to make up the year to a more realistic 365 days, as the 355 format had not been working to their satisfaction. It was named for Februa, the feast of purification. During this time, there was a great honouring of the dead, physical cleansing and spiritual purification through some quite (to us) barbaric rituals. There are suggestions that it was also about rising fertility, as spring approached.
It is, of course, the ending of winter and even in places which did not yet call this time as February, it was considered a time of waiting for the spring and the best way to wait was to clean. It is the basis of what we still, to this day, call 'spring cleaning'!
Today, though, we tend to think of this as purely a mechanical thing of doing that extra deep clean of the toilet or wardrobe. Here, at AV-bloggy, you are invited to think of your spring-clean as also pertaining to your inner being! Start with the small stuff and let it go. Weed out what is no more useful to your personality and your interface with the world. Don't leave it in the dark recesses of your being to fester - or worse still, to rise and bother you again. Go forth into your depths and clean, clean, clean!
