Months of the Year

For those folks who read my blog you know that I become curious about some odd ball things.

Today I had to wonder where the names for the months of the year come from. Since we use the Gregorian calendar, created by a Pope of the same name, it is rather interesting where the names came from.

For instance, January is named for the Roman god, Janus who was two-faced and was the god of doors, gates and other entrances. That is why the "opening" month of the year was named for him.

February comes from febuarius the Latin word for purification. The 15th was set aside for the Festival of Februa when people repented and made sacrifices to the gods to atone for their wrongdoings.

March is a no-brainer. It was name for the Roman god of war. Until the 46 B.C this was the first month of the year.

April. Well no one seem to know the origin of the name. It is supposed tht it is a corruption of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Some expers think the month comes from the Latin verb aperire which means 'to open' and most plants begin to bud in April.

May has two schools of thought. It could be named for Maia the mother of the god Mercury or in honor of the Majores an older branch of the Roman Senate.

June could have been named in honor of Juno, the wife of Juipter or after the Juniores, the lower branch of the Roman senate.

July is an easy one. It's named after Julius Caesar. Wonder if he ever realized the impact he would have.

August was named after Julius Caesar's nephew, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. The senate gave him the titile "Augustus" which means "revered". Talk about keeping it in the family.

September comes from the Latin word for "seven". It was the seventh month until about 700 B.C. when Numa Pompilius, the second Roman king, switched from a 304-day calendar to a 335-day lunar calendar.

October is the Latin word for "eight". Well October follows September so that explains everything. Some new names were tried but none of them took. Would you like to say my birthday is Faustina the 5th, or Germanicus the 8th? Just doesn't sound right does it.

November is the Latin word for "nine", duh! It was also reverred to as "blood-month" because it was the peak season for pagan animal sacrifices.

December is the Latin word for "ten". There were attempts made to rename it Amazonius in honor the mistress of the Emperor Commodius but it failed.

All this information is courtesy of Uncle John's Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader which, of course, is near the commode. Wonder what Amazonious and Commodius would think about that.

See you next week.