This week has seen the start of the month of February, which also has its celebration dates, even if they´re not as well known as those from other months.
For example, February 2nd is marked in some places around Spain as the holiday of Candlemas, or "las Candelas", as they call it in Cáceres, my home town. I remember when my sister and I were children; we used to dress up as "campuzas" (wearing traditional costumes from our region), and join the celebrations near the chapel of Saint Blas.
Ireland also has a celebration for this time of the year, specifically on February 1st: the Celtic tradition used to celebrate the holiday of Imbolc, que luego con el cristianismo se transformó en el día de Santa Brígida, patrona de Irlanda. Curiosamente, la tradición celta consideraba que esta fecha era el comienzo de la primavera… ¿La primavera? ¿Ya? ¿Pero cómo puede ser, con el frío que hace? Y es verdad que todavía hace frío, pero si te fijas bien, por estas fechas ya se empiezan a ver los brotes nuevos de las plantas, empieza a brotar nueva vida después de estar todo como adormecido durante el invierno.
And speaking of winter, another tradition for this time of the year, this time in the United States (sorry but I forgot the name of the town) is Groundhog Day, which supposedly predicts if the winter will continue for a while or if spring will be arriving soon.
To be honest, I probably remember this groundhog thing for the same reason as many of you, a movie that became very popular back in the day: "Groundhog day", translated into Spanish as "Atrapado en el tiempo" ("stuck in time"). In this movie, a sarcastic and grumpy TV reporter finds himself having to re-live the same day, February 2nd,, Groundhog Day, over and over again, until he finally learns from the lessons Life is sending him, and becomes a much more authentic person,
This plot is so well known nowadays that when somebody tells us they´re "living in Groundhog Day", we totally get it, right? They feel trapped in a routine where every day looks the same. So how can we get out of there?
Bueno, pues igual la película misma nos puede dar algunas pistas. Por un lado, en algún sitio oí o leí que si todos los días nos parecen iguales y se nos pasan los meses y los años sin darnos cuenta, es porque no estamos aprendiendo nada nuevo… Por otro lado, a veces parece que la vida nos pone por delante las mismas situaciones una y otra vez, como si nos tropezáramos siempre con la misma piedra. ¿No será que lo que tenemos es que aprender otra manera mejor de gestionar esas situaciones, para así poder «pasar pantalla» y llegar al siguiente nivel?
It´s very easy, and very tempting, to complain about routine and monotony in our day to day life, but that´s how we forget that the power to make every day count is actually in our hands.
So, what do you think? Do you feel like you´re living in Groundhog Day? And which is the song that plays on repeat for you every morning when you wake up?