*Ø* Dog Days of Summer

The Dog Days (Jul 3 - Aug 11)

In these Dog Days it is forbidden by Astronomy to all Manner of People to be let Blood or take Physic. Yea, it is good to abstain all this time from Women. For why, all that time reigneth a Star that is called Canicula Canis, a Hound in English, and the kind of the Star is broiling and burning as Fire. All this time the Heat of the Sun is so fervent and violent that Men's bodies at Midnight sweat as at Midday: and if they be hurt, they be more sick than at any other time, yea very near Dead. In these days all venomous serpents creep, fly and gender, so that many are annoyed thereby; in these times a Fire is good night and day, and wholesome, seeth well your meals and take heed of feeding violently.
The Husbandman's Practice 1729

 
In olden days it was believed that July's warmth, and the associated diseases, were to do with the heliacal rising and setting of the star Canicula – the Little Dog, or Dog Star (Sirius). Thus they called the period from July 3 to August 11 ‘the Dog Days’.

Sirius comes from the Greek word seirios, meaning 'scorching'. However, another explanation exists for the naming of the Dog Star: the Egyptians named it after Sihor, the Nile, and the Romans altered this to Sirius. According to Greek mythology, Sirius was seen as the dog of Orion the hunter, and he was also called kyon, Greek for dog ...

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