Wheel of the Year the last month of the old year and the first month of the new year and is followed by eleven days of extended celebration. In Roman traditions additional festivities take place during the six days leading up to Midwinter. As the first cross-quarter day following Midwinter this day falls on the first of February and traditionally marks the first stirrings of spring. It aligns with the contemporary observance of Groundhog Day. It is time for purification and spring cleaning in anticipation of the year's new life. In Rome, it was historically a shepherd's holiday, while the Celts associated it with
Saint Valentine St Valentine has him executed for refusing to deny Christ by the order of the "Emperor Claudius" in the year 269. Before his head was cut off, this Valentine restored sight and hearing to the daughter of his jailer. Jacobus makes a play with the etymology of "Valentine", "as containing valour". A popularly ascribed hagiographical identity appears in the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493). Alongside a woodcut portrait of Valentine, the text states that he was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius Gothicus. He was arrested and imprisoned upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who