Cabañuelas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Las cabañuelas (also cavanuelas or cabanuelas) were a method of forecasting the weather practiced throughout the Hispanic diaspora.

In Northern New Mexico, the cabañuelas were practiced as follows:

The 31 days in January were carefully observed in order to predict the weather for the rest of the year.

The first through twelfth days of January represented their corresponding months on the calendar. The thirteenth through twenty-fourth days of January represented the months in reverse, with the thirteenth corresponding to December, the fourteenth corresponding to November, and the twenty-fourth corresponding to January again.

From the twenty-fifth through thirtieth, the day was divided into two parts, with the morning of the twenty-fifth corresponding to January, and the afternoon of that same day corresponding to February, and so on.

On the last day of January, the twenty-four hours corresponded each to a month in the same way that the first twenty-four days of the month did.

The average of the findings would be taken by methodical record-keepers such that, for example, if it rained or snowed on the 7th, 18th, or the 31st at 7:00 a.m. and/or at 6:00 p.m., the cabañuela would show that July would be a wet month.