Daily Calendar for Saturday, February 21, 2026

Ember Days happen four times a year at the start of each season. Traditionally observed by some Christian denominations, each set of Ember Days is three days, kept on a successive Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. 

These three days are set apart for fasting, abstinence, and prayer. The first of these four times comes in winter, after the Feast of St. Lucia, December 13; the second set comes with the First Sunday in Lent; the third set comes after Whitsunday/Pentecost Sunday; the four and last set comes after the Feast of the Holy Cross. Their dates can be remembered by this old mnemonic:

β€œSant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.”

Which means:

β€œHoly Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost, are when the quarter holidays follow.”

In Latin, Ember Days are known as the quattuor anni tempora (the β€œfour seasons of the year”). Folklore has it that the weather on each of the three days foretells the weather for three successive months. 

As with much folklore, this is grounded in some common sense since the beginning of the four seasons cue the changes in weather as well as a shift in how we keep harmony with the Earth and respect our stewardship of the Earth, our β€œgarden of Eden.β€β€œ

Died

  • Jethro Tull (agriculturist, inventor of the horse-drawn seed drill) –
  • Malcolm X assassinated in NYC –
  • Dame Margot Fonteyn (ballerina) –
  • Bart Howard (songwriter known for writing Fly Me to the Moon) –
  • Billy Graham (evangelist) –
  • Peter Tork (musician, member of The Monkees) –

Born

  • Anais Nin (novelist) –
  • W.H. Auden (poet) –
  • John Robert Lewis (American politician; civil rights leader) –
  • Alan Rickman (actor) –
  • William Petersen (actor) –
  • Kelsey Grammer (actor) –
  • Jennifer Love Hewitt (actress) –
  • Jordan Peele (comedian and actor) –
  • Corbin Bleu (actor) –

Events

  • The half-cent denomination was discontinued in the United States –
  • Lucy Hobbs Taylor became the first woman to graduate from a dental school, the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati, Ohio –
  • First telephone directory published, New Haven, Connecticut –
  • The Washington Monument was dedicated by President Arthur in Washington, D.C. It took 102 years to complete, beginning in 1783 when Congress proposed it. It was the largest man-made structure in the world at the time –
  • First issue of The New Yorker published –
  • Polaroid instant camera first demonstrated –
  • President Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit a country not diplomatically recognized by the U.S. when he visited China –
  • UFO sighted in Portland, Oregon –

Weather

  • Granville, North Dakota, experienced a spectacular chinook temperature swing. The temperature rose from -33F in the morning to 50F in the afternoon. –
  • Destructive ice storm began in areas of Wisconsin, lasting through February 23 –
  • Twelve days of heavy rain and snow in California finally came to an end –
  • Two tornadoes hit the Sacramento, California, area –

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