JANUARY
January is the sacred month of
Janus, the Roman god who was guardian of portals and patron of
beginnings and endings: he is usually shown as having two faces, one in front
and one at the back, symbolizing his powers.
FEBRUARY
February comes from the Latin word februa, the Roman
festival of Purification held every 15th
of February. This is also the month that
occupies a special place in hearts of lovers and sweethearts who, on the 14th
of the month, think nothing of spending hard-earned pesos on sweet nothings to
celebrate the most common human failty and universal preoccupation: love and
courtship. An unofficial “red letter
day” for amorous adventures and trysts, Valentine’s Day was originally
celebrated in honor of St. Valentine, a Christian martyr of the 3rd
century A.D.
MARCH
March from the Latin word Martius
is the month of Mars, the Roman god of war.
“Beware the Ides of March”, so went the portentous warning given to
Julius Caesar.
APRIL
April, comes from the Latin word aperire which means “to open”
(buds), later from the Latin aprilis, the original meaning of which was “the
second month”
This is the only month in the calendar that starts with a joke, the
first of the month being All Fool’s Day,
a time when pranks or making a fool of one’s neighbor are generally tolerated,
if not sanctioned.
MAY
May from the Latin Word Maius, is named after Maia, the goddess
of growth or increase.
JUNE
June comes from the French word juin and the Latin Junius,
meaning the month of Junius which is a Roman family name.
The name June may also have originated from juvenis, Latin for “youth”.
JULY
July, originally called Quintilis
or the fifth month according to the earliest Latin calendar, is named after
Julius Caesar.
Water is the element that characterizes this month: summer has ended
and the rains have come.
AUGUST
August is the month named after Augustus Caesar (also known as
Octavian), the grandnephew of Julius Caesar, and the first Roman emperor who
ruled from 27 B.C. to 14 A.D.
August may have also been derived from the Latin word, augusium,
meaning divination, from which also came the word augury.
SEPTEMBER
September comes from the Latin word septem meaning seven or the seventh. The original name of the
month, however, is from an Anglo Saxon word that means harvest month.
OCTOBER
October, from the Latin word octo meaning eight, was the eight month of the early Roman calendar.
NOVEMBER
November, from novem
which is Latin for nine, was the ninth month of the old Roman calendar.
DECEMBER
December, the last month of the year, comes from the Latin word
decem meaning ten. Although the
present calendar shows the month to be
the twelfth, it was really the tenth month of the early Romans, who reckoned
from March.
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