Hanging Skunks and Candlemas

Happy Candlemas, everyone! For anyone who does not understand why we have such a lame holiday (groundhog day) on February 2, it was not always so. Candlemas is the celebration of the Purification of the Virgin Mary- when she took Jesus to be presented at the temple and met up with Simeon and Anna. Much cooler that Groundhog Day, IMHO. St. Brigid's day was yesterday, she's got a pretty cool story, too, but I've not got time to put it up just now. So, since February was named for being the month of purification, the kids and me are going to attempt some early spring cleaning in 15 minute bursts (see flylady). And we'll probably break out the candles a little later, too and read the part in the Bible about the dedication of Christ. In this dark time, I reckon we need all the happy holidays we can find, eh?

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Now to the hanging skunks. My neighbors drove by the other day with a skunk hung by a noose from their back bumper. A real, true, dead skunk. Guts and all. Thinking it might be some very odd mountain custom, I asked my husband. He said that if it had been a chicken... but we were in the wrong part of the country for that. So kids and myself did some theorizing.

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1. They wanted it to be a warning to all skunks not to get under their back porch.

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2. They have a colourful kin relationship like my husband and youngest brother and it was a dirty trick. (this is the theory my husband favoured and he figured they hadn't noticed it yet- couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from and the brother-in-law was laughing his head off about it)

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3. It really is some long, lost mountain ritual with some significance that is unknown to townies like myself.

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4. He was an outlaw skunk and the other skunks lynched him. Since they're short, the bumper of the truck had to do in place of a low-hanging tree branch.

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Anyone who has a theory, post a comment. Next time I see them, I'll ask and will post their answer. ;-)

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Well, it's snowing and I still have part of a woodpile out on the ground. So, son and myself will be needing to skeedaddle out there and get it up and into the building. I hope everyone has a BLESSED day!!!!!!!!

JRS