*Ø* Blogmanac September 29 | Michaelmas
Feast day of St Michael and other Archangels
Today’s plant
Michaelmas daisy, Aster tradescanti, was designated today’s plant by medieval monks. It is dedicated to St Michael, whose feast day this is.
Ganging day and Taffy on a goose
Michaelmas was typically a playful time. Once every seven years, St Michael’s Day in Britain was known as a ganging day, on which young men went through the parish, jokingly bumping into everyone they met. Women used to stay at home today, except some girls who used to drink with the youths and sleep out with them in the fields. Local publicans were obliged by custom to provide them all with alcohol and plum-cake. In a Norwich, England, tradition that was unfortunately obsolete by World War II, vendors sold ritual biscuits, each called Taffy on a goose, in the form of a man riding on a goose. Throughout Britain and Ireland it was a great time of feasting, replete with folklore, much like Christmas. For example, finding a ring hidden in a Michaelmas pie meant that one would soon be married.
St Michael’s apparition
King Louis XI of France instituted an order commemorating St Michael, because an apparition of the saint had been seen on a bridge at Orleans when that city was besieged by the English in 1428. The Feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael commemorates the 6th century appearance of the archangel on Mount Gargano near Manfredonia in southern Italy. Michael requested a church built in his honor at the site. Today, Catholic medals or holy cards with ‘relics’ of St Michael are usually chips of rock from the cave, or pieces of cloth that have touched it.
Angelic silences
Today being the feast of St Michael and All Angels, it is timely to note a bit of folklore about those strange silences that sometimes befall a group engaged in conversation. It used to be said that an angel had passed by on such an occasion, taking off the conversation to record in a heavenly tome, to bring out on Judgement Day as evidence either in favour of or against the speakers.
Michaelitag, Germany
Since 813 CE, St Michael has been the patron saint of Germany. The German equivalent of England’s John Bull and America’s Uncle Sam is the German Michael, (deutscher Michel), who wears a nightcap with a pompom. Today is regarded as Winter’s beginning and is marked with celebrations, markets and bonfires. In Germany, St Michael is known as the Angel of Death, so many cemetery chapels are named for him.
St Michael’s Chair
This is an old beacon turret atop the chapel at St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall (St Michael is the patron of high places). In an old tradition, whoever of a newly-married couple first sits on the site will gain the supremacy in the marriage.
Excerpted from the new Wilson's Almanac article on Michaelmas.
Feast day of St Michael and other Archangels
Today’s plant
Michaelmas daisy, Aster tradescanti, was designated today’s plant by medieval monks. It is dedicated to St Michael, whose feast day this is.
Ganging day and Taffy on a goose
Michaelmas was typically a playful time. Once every seven years, St Michael’s Day in Britain was known as a ganging day, on which young men went through the parish, jokingly bumping into everyone they met. Women used to stay at home today, except some girls who used to drink with the youths and sleep out with them in the fields. Local publicans were obliged by custom to provide them all with alcohol and plum-cake. In a Norwich, England, tradition that was unfortunately obsolete by World War II, vendors sold ritual biscuits, each called Taffy on a goose, in the form of a man riding on a goose. Throughout Britain and Ireland it was a great time of feasting, replete with folklore, much like Christmas. For example, finding a ring hidden in a Michaelmas pie meant that one would soon be married.
St Michael’s apparition
King Louis XI of France instituted an order commemorating St Michael, because an apparition of the saint had been seen on a bridge at Orleans when that city was besieged by the English in 1428. The Feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael commemorates the 6th century appearance of the archangel on Mount Gargano near Manfredonia in southern Italy. Michael requested a church built in his honor at the site. Today, Catholic medals or holy cards with ‘relics’ of St Michael are usually chips of rock from the cave, or pieces of cloth that have touched it.
Angelic silences
Today being the feast of St Michael and All Angels, it is timely to note a bit of folklore about those strange silences that sometimes befall a group engaged in conversation. It used to be said that an angel had passed by on such an occasion, taking off the conversation to record in a heavenly tome, to bring out on Judgement Day as evidence either in favour of or against the speakers.
Michaelitag, Germany
Since 813 CE, St Michael has been the patron saint of Germany. The German equivalent of England’s John Bull and America’s Uncle Sam is the German Michael, (deutscher Michel), who wears a nightcap with a pompom. Today is regarded as Winter’s beginning and is marked with celebrations, markets and bonfires. In Germany, St Michael is known as the Angel of Death, so many cemetery chapels are named for him.
St Michael’s Chair
This is an old beacon turret atop the chapel at St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall (St Michael is the patron of high places). In an old tradition, whoever of a newly-married couple first sits on the site will gain the supremacy in the marriage.
Excerpted from the new Wilson's Almanac article on Michaelmas.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 7:18 PM | Permalink
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