The month of September

The name of the calendar month of September derives from its being the seventh month (Latin: Septem, seven) after March, where the Roman calendar’s year used to commence. The Roman goddess Pomona, patroness of fruit and orchards, is the ruling deity of the month.

The Dutch called it Herstmaand (autumn-month), and the Saxons, Gerst-monath (barley-month), or Hærfest-monath (harvest month). After the introduction of Christianity, the Saxons called it Halig-monath, or holy-month, because of the preponderance of feast days in at this stage of the year (the nativity of the Virgin Mary being on September 8, the Exaltation of the Cross on the 14th, Holy-Rood Day on September 26, and Michaelmas ( St Michael's Day) on September 29). In the French Republican calendar it was called Fructidor (fruit-month, August 18 to September 21) ...

Categories: calendar, customs, folklore, almanac