March 1st: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

Hip hip hooray…it’s March!

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The March calendar gnomes are helping squirrels protect their nut stash. Word to the wise…we all need to be protecting our nut stashes. Check on that for awhile. Or don’t.

But March isn’t only about squirrels….it’s about the emergence of other creatures too. Namely, the lion and the lamb.

When I was a wee lil’ gnome, my poppy always used to set out my stuffed lion and stuffed lamb at breakfast on March 1st and ask me whether March was coming in like a lion or a lamb. Because supposedly, it would go out the other way.

As a wee gnome, I accepted this as logical fact. Today I question everything.

According to somewhat credible sources, the whole lion/lamb thing comes from an English proverb. In Wales, this proverb is applied to the month of April more often than March.

Wales is weird. Why do they leave out the “h” and do they even have whales there?

lion

Although it didn’t work so well, the saying was used as a prediction contingent on a year’s early weather in the 19th century. Conversely, if the weather is nice early, it comes in like a lamb and will go out like a lion.

The Farmers’ Almanac says it’s all kinda bullshit. And farmers are never wrong.

Regardless, it’s pretty cold and snowy here at The Gnome Abode today. So I’m keeping my hopes up for an amazingly tropical 90-degree March 31st. Who’s with me?!

ROARRRR,
Horace The Gnome