February in the collective heritage of the Arab East.

Written by: Dr. Ahmed Mahmoud Al-Shuraideh – Researcher in Agricultural Heritage – Jordan.
February is the second month in the Gregorian calendar (Roman solar calendar). It is known in the Levant as Shubat, in the Arabian Gulf, Yemen, and the Nile Valley as February, and in the Maghreb it is called Febri.

The term (Shubat) was taken from the Eastern “Aramaic-Syriac” calendar. The Syriac word “Shubat” in Arabic means beating and whipping, and the reason for the name is the severity of the cold and winds at this time of year.

February has (28) days or (29) days in a leap year, as it originally had (30) days, when Emperor Julius Caesar decided to take a day from February and add it to the seventh month of the Gregorian calendar, which he named after himself, July, which originally had (30) days, to become 31 days, and to reduce the number of days of February from (30) days to (29) days. After the death of Emperor Julius Caesar, Emperor Octavian Augustus decided to name the month in which he was born (the eighth month of the Christian era) "August." Following in his predecessor's footsteps, he ordered that a day be taken from the month of February (the poor month) and added to August, which originally had 30 days, making it 31 days. This reduced the number of days in February from 29 to 28. Both decisions came at the expense of the poor month of February, whose days were reduced from 30 to 29 and then to 28.

February has 29 days every four years because of what is known as a "leap year," because the solar year is 356 and a quarter days, i.e., six hours, and the four quarters are added together to become a full day, i.e., 24 hours, which makes it 29 days instead of 28 days.
One of its climatic features is that the end of "Al-Murabba'aniyah" and the beginning of "Al-Khamasiniyah" are on the first of February - February, which is a month of weather fluctuations par excellence, and February is the month of planting grapes.

Perhaps the most famous oral proverbs circulating in the Arab East about the month of February are:
1- (February is not cold and has the scent of summer) This is an expression indicating the presence of sunny and warm days in it.
2- (February has no fixed rules) is a metaphor for the sudden climatic and weather fluctuations that occur in it, due to cases of atmospheric instability.
3- The reputation belongs to Al-Murabba’aniyah, and the action belongs to Shubat.
4- February, the words of the bond.
February 5th, the howling makes the shepherd writhe.
February 6th is a time when the old man is simple.
7- The cold of February prevents locusts and drought.
8- A February cloud is better than a January clear day.
9- February sun is learning on the tiles.
10- February sun makes the head like a blender.
11- The sun of February is for my daughters-in-law, the sun of March is for my daughters-in-law, and the sun of April is for my old age.
12- In February, the akouba becomes as long as the stick.