| Author | |
JennGM
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702
|
| Posted: Jan 08 2014 at 6:01pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
So the blackbirds we see here aren't the ones found in Europe?
__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Mackfam
Board Moderator
Non Nobis
Joined: April 24 2006
Location: Alabama
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14656
|
| Posted: Jan 08 2014 at 6:37pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
And technically...the book is about a white bird that gets sooty, keeps his black feathers, and is then called a "black bird".
In the author's note, de Paola calls the bird a dove...but I really don't think de Paola is correct here. I think the original story is about a European Blackbird as Mary mentioned, a turdus merula, which does have quite a pretty song. (More below) Apparently, according to some ancient legends, all blackbirds were white. This legend (which is one of many, many variations) is an attempt to explain through story how the white blackbird became all black. For background reading, you might enjoy this really great article on The Merla Days.
In Italy, the Days of the Blackbird are treated much as we view Groundhog day: if the days of the blackbird are cold, spring will come soon, if they are warm, spring will come later.
Other ideas I had that might work for us around the Days of the Blackbird:
** Spend some time taking care of our feathered friends for winter. My favorite book for this is Glenn Blough's Bird Watchers and Bird Feeders, illustrated by Jeanne Bendick (oop, but might still be available at Amazon and other used book vendors). I love all the books in Mr. Blough's series, but this book in particular would be a great follow up to The Days of the Blackbird and will provide us some good activities to take us into our spring studies and bird watching. We've really enjoyed working on our bird list records so I thought I'd share a printable in case someone would like to start their own bird spotting list! This list is fun to keep on a clipboard near a window that looks out onto a feeder.
2014-01-08_181000_Birds_Spotted.pdf
** Learn birdsongs. We have a thread here already that has some ideas for this, and since that thread, I found a great site - BirdJam - that we love using for listening to bird sounds. Maybe choose a handful of the birds that are common near your windows this time of year and learn their songs.
** Listen to the song of the European Blackbird - it really does have a lovely little song.
** It might be neat to record the temps during the Days of the Blackbird, and keep it to see how the Days (were they cold or warm?) compare to the coming of spring in your area.
I enjoyed looking into this legend - it's rich with old stories that I really enjoy reading! It's always so neat to read stories that were concocted to explain the deep cold days of winter, but I still prefer de Paola's beautiful interpretation. It's a wonderful story of the gift of self and sacrifice, and the sooty, black ashes the bird accepts as her new coloring at the end of the story are a nod toward Ash Wednesday, which won't be far behind the Days of the Blackbird.
__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Mackfam
Board Moderator
Non Nobis
Joined: April 24 2006
Location: Alabama
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14656
|
| Posted: Jan 08 2014 at 6:38pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
JennGM wrote:
| So the blackbirds we see here aren't the ones found in Europe? |
|
|
No, they're not.
__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MaryM
Board Moderator
Joined: Feb 11 2005
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 13104
|
| Posted: Jan 09 2014 at 2:01am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Mackfam wrote:
| In Italy, the Days of the Blackbird are treated much as we view Groundhog day: if the days of the blackbird are cold, spring will come soon, if they are warm, spring will come later. |
|
|
An interesting article with the weather connections - Saint Lucia, the days of the blackbird and Candlemas: winter according to the proverbs
Mackfam wrote:
| ** It might be neat to record the temps during the Days of the Blackbird, and keep it to see how the Days (were they cold or warm?) compare to the coming of spring in your area. |
|
|
In the weather/freeze thread from a few days ago I shared a cool site that could be used here. You can look at the year's past weather in your area in lots of graphical forms.The first graph has the high and low temps for the past year along with averages. So if you were to record the temps for those 3 days as Jen suggests you could easily compare them to the averages to see if it is warmer or colder for this "spring" prediction.
WeatherSpark.com - The link has my location data, so if you just put your location into the search box it will pull up the data for you (or someplace near you).
Some crafts/activities to go long with the book:
Crafty Moms Share - cute idea of burning paper to make soot and using it for a "paint" to paint a white bird dark ( a little cleaner than Suzanne's fireplace "craft"  which I still think is so cute).
Kitchen Counter Chronicles - two sided paper bird puppet, one side black one side white (sort of like Dawn's craft but turned into puppet).
Mackfam wrote:
| For background reading, you might enjoy this really great article on The Merla Days. |
|
|
Jen, would love to read this article - link goes to bird ID page though.
__________________
Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Mackfam
Board Moderator
Non Nobis
Joined: April 24 2006
Location: Alabama
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14656
|
| Posted: Jan 09 2014 at 7:00am | IP Logged
|
|
|
MaryM wrote:
Mackfam wrote:
| For background reading, you might enjoy this really great article on The Merla Days. |
|
|
Jen, would love to read this article - link goes to bird ID page though. |
|
|
Oops! I fixed the link in my post above and...
Here's the correct link - The Merla Days
__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MaryM
Board Moderator
Joined: Feb 11 2005
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 13104
|
| Posted: Jan 09 2014 at 10:48am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thanks, Jen, that is an informative article.
Hey aren't these finger puppets adorable - tutorial here.
__________________
Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Picture Book Discoveries
Topic: Days of the Blackbird
