the she-bluebird's day

Hi all!

Today, tomorrow and the day after (in Italy) are called " the she-bluebird's days".

It's known that these are the 3 coldest day of the year, so here's a good reason for this last snow...

The myths behind this day are two:

1)a white bluebird and her chicks went inside a chimney to find shelter from the cold. They came out the 1st of February ,

and they were all black because of the soot. From that day on, all the bluebird were black.

2)a white bluebird was always mistreated by January, who was having fun waiting for the bluebird to come out from her nest for

throw cold and snow on earth.

The bluebird, tired of January's behaviour, gathered enough food for 1 month and stayed in her nest until the 28th of January

(back then, January only had 28 days).

On the last day of January, the 28th, the bluebird thought she had been able to fool January. She came out from her nest singing

and making fun of January.

January was very angry about that; he borrowed some days from February and unleashed freeze and rain.

The bluebird ran off inside a chimney, and there she stayed for three days.

When the fury of January smoothed down, the bluebird was safe but her plumage turned black because of the soot and she

stayed like that ever since.

The legend wants that if this days are cold, spring will come earlier; otherwise spring will be very late.

If you want to read about this days in italian, follow the link below:

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorni_della_merla

http://www.arcobaleno.net/costume/29_30_31_gennaio.htm