* Blogmanac | July 1 | The month of July

July weather lore
A shower of rain in July,
When the corn begins to fill,
Is worth a plough of oxen,
And all belongs theretill.
In this month is St Swithin's Day,
On which, if that rain, men say,
Full forty days after it will
For more or less some rain distill,
Till Swithin's Day is past and gone
There may be hops, or there may be none.
Traditional (St Swithin's Day is July 15)

July
July is the seventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 31 days. The seventh month of the year was named by Mark Antony for Julius Caesar. The Roman calendar had previously called it Quintilis, as it was the fifth month of their year.

The Dutch called this month Hooy-maand (‘hay-month’), and the old Saxon name was Maedd-Monath (because the cattle were sent to the meadows to feed) and Lida aeftevr (the second mild or genial month). Just to confuse things, the Saxons also called this time of year Hen-monath (probably ‘foliage month’), a word most likely derived from the German hain, meaning ‘wood’ or ‘trees’. Another Saxon term was Hey Monath because at this time they mowed and made hay.

The old Irish name is based on Julius, namely, Iuil. The Frankish name for the month of July is related to Hewimanoth, meaning hay month, a name that continues in modern Asatru as Haymoon. In American backwoods tradition, this is Buck Moon.

In the French Revolutionary calendar it was called Messidor (harvest-month, June 19 to July 18).

Until the 18th century, July was pronounced as the girls' name 'Julie'. Even as late as 1798 Wordsworth wrote:

In March, December, and in July,
'Tis all the same with Harry Gill;
The neighbours tell, and tell you truly,
His teeth they chatter, chatter still.
Goody Blake and Harry Gill

July begins on the same day of the week as April every year and also as January in leap years. Astrologically, this is the month of the house of Cancer (June 22 - July 22) and that of Leo (23 July - August 23). July's birthstone is ruby, signifying contentment and courage, and cornelian, signifying content.

The glowing Ruby shall adorn
Those who in warm July are born.
Then will they be exempt and free
From love's doubt and anxiety.
Traditional

More on the Roman calendar


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