The very cold days of the blackbird, the wettest this year

The popular adage that identifies the last days of January as the three coldest days of the year is being dismissed this week. THE days of the blackbird according to the weather forecast, they will be more rainy than cold, also because they are preceded by really cold weeks for most of Italy.

That the cold increase the 29, 30 and 31 January (this year on Friday, Saturday and Sunday) it is therefore not always true, indeed the statistics say the opposite. The saying is ancient and the tradition of looking at the days between the end of January and the beginning of February as those that establish the end of the coldest ones of winter is international.

The origin of the definition of “days of the blackbird», It is certainly ancient and not unique.

THE CANNON
It was said that there was a cannon to pass over the Po. Sebastiano Pauli told it in 1740. He was very big and they called him the Blackbird. They waited for the last days of January for him to pass on the ice of the frozen river as these were the coldest days.

THE MARRIAGE
A Noble Lady of Caravaggio, who was called de Merli, had to cross the river Po to go and get married. He could only do it in these days when the river was frozen.

I MERLI
A tradition says that the playful month of January annoyed a white blackbird by making it cold whenever the bird went out to fetch food. The blackbird asked him to be shorter (then January was 28 days), but did not convince him. The next year he stocked up on food and stayed in the nest all the time and on the 28th day he made fun of January. This, in revenge, asked for three days in February and unleashed a storm. The blackbird hid in a chimney, was saved, but its feathers turned black as they are today. Similar is the one that tells of an entire family of blackbirds forced to take shelter near a chimney.

THE CREMONESE VERSION
In the province of Cremona the days of the blackbird are January 30 and 31 and February 1. When the blackbirds were still white there was a particularly mild January. The birds made fun of him for the lack of frost, the month got angry and brought freezing cold even for the first day of February. The battlements turned black because they were forced to take shelter in the chimneys.

THE SARDINIAN TRADITION
Sas dies imprinted, means the days lent and are the coldest days of the year, January 30th and 31st. Legend has it that a shepherd boasted of the success of his pasture in a mild January, which has now reached the end of the month on the 29th. The annoyed month of January asked for two days on loan in February due to the frost. They were so cold that all but one of the shepherd’s sheep died. Since then, January has 31 days, February is only 28 days left.

TRADITIONS
In Lodi in the days of the blackbird, choirs are called from opposite sides of the Adda river. There is the custom of bonfires in the Cremona area, always with traditional songs. The themes are those of winter and love with a contrast between men and women.

FORECASTS
The legend still says that if the days of the blackbird are cold, spring will be beautiful; if they are hot, spring will come late. A bit like the American tradition of Groundhog Day. Depending on the marmot’s decision to show himself or not on February 2nd, it is decided whether the winter will still last or not.

FRIULAN FORECASTS
On the three-day weather forecast in Friuli, the forecast was up to March. A very cold and sunny 29 reminded of a similar January, rain on 30 brought it throughout the month of February.