October and its folklore

October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 31 days. From the Latin octo for 'eight' (it was originally the eighth month of the year, before January and February were inserted).

October begins on the same day of week as January, except in leap years.
The old Dutch name for October was Wynmaand and the Old English was Winmonath (Wine-month, or the time of vintage; the month for treading the wine-vats); also Teomonath (tenth-month) and Winter-fylleth (Winter full-moon). In some Saxon calendars, the month was allegorised by the figure of a husbandsman carrying a sack on his shoulders, sowing corn. Sometimes, October is personified as a vineyard worker riding on Scorpio .... In other old calendars, the sport of hawking is represented. In the Domesday Book the vineyards are mentioned often.

The Frankish name, Windurmanoth, means 'vintage month'. American backwoods calendar: Hunter's Moon. Ásatrú name: Hunting.

In the French Revolutionary Calendar the month was Vendémiaire (time of vintage, c. September 22 to c. October 21). It is the month for making beer, wine and cider, because of the steady temperature.

In the Goddess calendar, October is sacred to goddess Hathor (October 3 - October 30). October's flowers are the calendula and cosmos. In the Wiccan faith, according to one source, October is sacred to the deities Cernunnos, Hekate (Hecate), the Morrigan, Osiris, and "the Wiccan Goddess in Her dark aspect as the Crone", and Calendula is the month's traditional flower ...

Categories: calendar-customs, deity