National Pistachio Day - always February 26
The kernels are often eaten whole, either fresh or roasted and salted, & are also used in ice cream & confections such as baklava or biscotti & cold cuts such as mortadella. In-habitants of the American Midwest make pistachio salad, which includes fresh pistachios or pistachio pudding, cool whip, canned fruit & sometimes cottage cheese or
marshmallows."The shell of the pistachio is naturally a beige color, but it is sometimes dyed red or green in commercial pistachios. Originally dye was applied by importers to hide stains on the shells caused when the nuts were picked by hand. Most pistachios are now picked by machine and the shells remain unstained, making dyeing unnecessary except to meet ingrained consumer expectations. Roasted pistachio nuts can be artificially turned red if they are marinated prior to roasting in a salt and strawberry marinade, or salt and citrus salts."
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Birthday Flower for February 26 is Ladys Delight:
"The pansy or pansy violets are a large group of hybrid plants cultivated as garden flowers Pansies are derived from Viola species Viola tricolor hybridized with other viola species, these hybrids are referred to as Viola × wittrockiana or less commonly Viola tricolor hortensis. The name "pansy" also appears as part of the common name for other Viola
species that are wildflowers in Europe. Some unrelated species, such as the Pansy Monkeyflower, also have "pansy" in their name.
The pansy was first introduced and rose to popularity in 1812 during the Romantic Era by a certain Lady Monck. On account of its popularity in both society and its recurring appearances in Romantic poetry, a variety of new nicknames for the flower began to circulate. Dorothea Lynde Dix proclaims that “Perhaps no flower (not excepting even the queenly rose) claims to be so universal a favorite, as the viola tricolor; none currently has been honored with so rich a variety of names, at once expressive of grace, delicacy and tenderness.” Many of these names play on the whimsical and inappropriate nature of love, including “Three Faces under a Hood,” “Flame Flower,” “Jump Up and Kiss Me,” “Flower of Jove,” and “Pink of my John.”
The name 'pansy' is derived from the French word pensée meaning "thought", and was so named because the flower resembles a human face; in August it nods forward as if deep in thought.
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Fun Holiday Fact
Did you know? "An unbirthday (originally written un-birthday) is an event that can be celebrated on any day that is not the person's birthday. It is a neologism coined in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, giving rise to the song "A Very Merry Unbirthday to You" in the 1951 Disney animated feature film Alice in Wonderland."
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Bahá'í Faith - February 26, Day 1 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) - days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving:
"The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories."
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Liberation Day in Kuwait (1991).
Liberation Day is a day, often a public holiday, that marks the liberation of a place, similar to an independence day. Liberation marks the date of either a revolution, as in Cuba, or the end of an occupation by another state, thereby differing from independence in the meaning of secession from another
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Saviours' Day - Islam - February 26
Saviours' Day is a holiday of the Nation of Islam (NOI), The Community of Imam W. Deen Mohammed (American Society of Muslims) and the Nation of Gods and Earths. It falls on February 26 and celebrates the birthday of Wallace Fard Muhammad, founder of the NOI.
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Feast Days
Saint Nestor (died 251)
Saint Alexander of Alexandria
Saint Isabel of France
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Significant February
• Birthstone of the Month: Amethyst - meaning Sincerity.
• The name for the Moon this month is called Hunger Moon, Snow Moon, Chaste Moon, Wolf Moon.
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