Farmers Almanacs

[lforrest]

I may be a few centuries late to the argument but I wanted to broach the subject of farmers almanacs.

A bit of background, they are publications that predict the weather for farmers to help plan for maximizing crops among other things farmers may want to know about. They existed before any sort of long term weather prediction technology. They notably use astrology and other signs that may be considered divination.

Yet despite this they gained popularity in among religious Christian farming communities. Goes to show you how people's principles bend when their livelihoods are on the line.

 

[Bob Estey]

I may be a few centuries late to the argument but I wanted to broach the subject of farmers almanacs.

A bit of background, they are publications that predict the weather for farmers to help plan for maximizing crops among other things farmers may want to know about. They existed before any sort of long term weather prediction technology. They notably use astrology and other signs that may be considered divination.

Yet despite this they gained popularity in among religious Christian farming communities. Goes to show you how people's principles bend when their livelihoods are on the line.

I know next to nothing about the Farmers Almanac, but I've never been under the impression they use astrology.

 

[Bob Estey]

I may be a few centuries late to the argument but I wanted to broach the subject of farmers almanacs.

A bit of background, they are publications that predict the weather for farmers to help plan for maximizing crops among other things farmers may want to know about. They existed before any sort of long term weather prediction technology. They notably use astrology and other signs that may be considered divination.

Yet despite this they gained popularity in among religious Christian farming communities. Goes to show you how people's principles bend when their livelihoods are on the line.

I just glanced at Wikipedia. They say:

The Farmers' Almanac will only state publicly that their method is an "exclusive mathematical and astronomical formula, that relies on sunspot activity, tidal action, planetary position (astrology) and many other factors".

When we send something to Mars, we are concerned with planetary position. To me, that is not "astrology."

 

[BarneyFife]

I may be a few centuries late to the argument but I wanted to broach the subject of farmers almanacs.

A bit of background, they are publications that predict the weather for farmers to help plan for maximizing crops among other things farmers may want to know about. They existed before any sort of long term weather prediction technology. They notably use astrology and other signs that may be considered divination.

Yet despite this they gained popularity in among religious Christian farming communities. Goes to show you how people's principles bend when their livelihoods are on the line.

I looked this up on the net some years ago and about the best info I could find said it was about 30% in terms of reliability. Not sure how such a thing could actually be assessed, tho. I know it was wildly popular when I was a kid back in the '60s and '70s.

Oh yeah, not sure about the divination business but I wouldn't be at all surprised.

:)

 

[lforrest]

I just glanced at Wikipedia. They say:

The Farmers' Almanac will only state publicly that their method is an "exclusive mathematical and astronomical formula, that relies on sunspot activity, tidal action, planetary position (astrology) and many other factors".

When we send something to Mars, we are concerned with planetary position. To me, that is not "astrology."

Many of the things listed would not be useful input variables for a weather model. Data that would be irrelevant.

What can planetary positions tell us other than our own season when it concerns the earth?

Sounds to me like looking for patterns in the heavens.

 

[Bob]

Thank you all for the interesting posts.

If you find any direct evidence of astrology in the links below, please post accordingly. Yes, the old almanacs did have the constellations and some information about the planets, but no astrology per se.

And if a publication (newspaper) has an astrology page, should Christians not buy Or read any of the paper? (Or laugh at the “predictions“ for the day. Or even open a fortune cookie, again for amusement?) We are in the world, but not of the world.

History of The Old Farmer's Almanac

The Old Farmer's Almanac is North America's most popular reference guide and oldest continuously published periodical. Its history is as rich and diverse as the Almanac itself.

www.almanac.com

The Farmers almanac for 1850 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Cover title

archive.org

Peace

 

[Bob Estey]

Many of the things listed would not be useful input variables for a weather model. Data that would be irrelevant.

What can planetary positions tell us other than our own season when it concerns the earth?

Sounds to me like looking for patterns in the heavens.

Planets would exert gravity, and if the gravity was strong enough, it could influence our weather. Perhaps they look at planet positions historically, and base predictions on past behavior. I am no scientist. I'd just like to believe the Farmers Almanac is based on science rather than divination.

 

[Reggie Belafonte]

Remember the Stone Henge in England is just that a great weather station, pin pointing the stars etc for predicting the crops to be grown early or late etc. a big wet is coming or a big dry etc. to some degree best as they can.

 

[BlueNightingale]

Many of the things listed would not be useful input variables for a weather model. Data that would be irrelevant.

What can planetary positions tell us other than our own season when it concerns the earth?

Sounds to me like looking for patterns in the heavens.

I read the almanac. It's about the gravitational pull, like how a full moon changes the tide. Most of that in there is because nature lovers like astronomy. Not astrology.

It's also not scientifically proven, but people swear by it. A very small portion is astrology. Skip it. The rest is farming stuff, news about pets, astronomy dates, weather, sports, recipe, so on.

TL;DR: It's not an astrology book. It's one of the most valuable gardening books with a calendar that has astrology in it, so you just don't read that part. You live in the world and navigate it the same way. There's parts you just don't do.

 

[Lambano]

Or even open a fortune cookie, again for amusement?)

I save some of the fortunes I've gotten in Chinese fortune cookies in my wallet. One of them said, "You love Chinese food". Damn, that's eerie. How did it know?

(The cookies themselves taste like styrofoam.)

 

[BlueNightingale]

I save some of the fortunes I've gotten in Chinese fortune cookies in my wallet. One of them said, "You love Chinese food". Damn, that's eerie. How did it know?

(The cookies themselves taste like styrofoam.)

We will buy ice cream waffle cones, only for the cones, because they taste exactly the same but bigger without witchcraft.

we looove styrofoam!