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If you were ever wondering about the history of our calendar or how the months were named, the names of the days of the week and how time was recorded--read on!
Months of the year:
Have you ever looked at the calendar and wondered where the names of the months came from? The origins of our calendar came from the old roman practice of starting each month on a new moon. The roman book-keepers would keep their records in a ledger called a "kalendarium" and this is where we get the word--calendar.
The original Roman calendar was 304 days long and had 10 months that began with March. December marked the end of the calendar year. The months of January and February were set aside for festivals. It was Julius Caeser who reorganized the calendar year to start with the month of January.
January: named for the Roman got of beginnings and endings--Janus.
February: name comes from the god Februus. Romans celebrated this month with purification festivals called "februa."
March: named for the roman god of war--Mars, son of Jupiter. This was the first month of the Roman calendar.
April: the name comes from the word "aperive" which means "to open" this is the month when the trees and flower buds open.
May: named after the roman goddess of honor and reverence--Maiesta (Maia).
June: named for the roman queen of the gods--Juno, who was married to Jupiter.
July: Named after Julius Caesar, who was born in this month.
August: named for Augustus, the roman emporer. Originally it was called Sextills for the 6th month of the Roman calendar.
September: comes from the word septem which means "seven."
October: comes from the word octo-meaning eight.
November: comes from the word novem-meaning nine.
December: comes from the word decem-meaning ten.
Want to remember how many days are in each month? Try out this poem about the months of the year:
Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November
All the rest have thirty one,
Excepting only February
which have but twenty eight
days clear
and twenty nine in each leap year.
Days of the week:
The days of the week are named after the 7 planets--the sun, the moon, mars, mercury, jupiter, venus, and saturn.
Sunday--this is known as the sun's day.
monday--this is known as the moon's day.
tuesday--Western culture used the warrior Tiw.
wednesday--western culture used the god Wotan.
Thursday--western culture used the god Thor
Friday--western culture used the goddess Frig (or Freya).
Saturday--Saturn's day.
A poem for the days of the week describes a child's qualities by the day they were born on:
Monday's child is fair of face
Tuesday's child is full of grace
wednesday's child is full of cheer
thursday's child is sweet and dear
friday's child is loving and kind
Saturday's child is happy all the time
sunday's child is honest and true
but the sweetest child belongs to you.
Hours of the day:
The word hour comes from the Greek word "hora" which was used to mark a time or season. The custom of marking days by a 24 hour system was invented by the Babylonians. The method of marking an hour by 60 minutes came from the Sumerians. Today we still use their way of marking time by 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour.
The seasons according to a French revolutionary calendar:
Autumn--wheezy, sneezy, freezy
winter--slippy, drippy, nippy
Spring--showery, flowery, bowery
Summer--hoppy, croppy, poppy
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