Saint Geneviève praying for the end of the rain. 19th Century by Alfred Gérente Notre-Dame de Paris.
St Genevieve of Nanterre (c. 419/422 AD – 502/512 AD) has her feast day today. Nanterre is an ancient settlement swallowed up by modern Paris. Genevieve was a most remarkable woman who met St Germanus of Auxerre on his way to Britain. Geneviève was only 7 when she met Germanus. He encouraged her piety. She became a consecrated virgin (someone who made vows of chastity to be a ‘bride of Christ’). Thereby living an aesthetic life of fasting and prayer. Miracles soon became associated with her, (including changing the weather) and the ‘usual’ medical miracles. After moving to Paris, she encouraged the women of the City to stay in the City for prayer and fasting to prevent the Huns capturing the City in 451. Attila and the Huns abandoned the siege.
St Genevieve saved the City on other occasions too, helped build two large Church projects, including St Dennis. In the medieval period, she became the Patron Saint of Paris. She is patron to: Paris, shepherds, winemakers, wax-chandlers, hatmakers; against eye complaints, fever, plagues, drought, and war.
St Germanus
St Germanus played a significant role in Genevieve’s life, protecting her from slander and attack. He is one of the most significant figures in post Roman studies in Britain. Accounts of his visits to Britain in the early 5th Century are among the very few descriptions of post-Roman life. He was sent to Britain to counter the Pelagian Heresy, which was endangering the Catholic version of Christianity.
Incidently, Nanterre has an interesting prehistory. The name in Celtic means ‘enduring sacred site’. A large cemetery has been found, which helps support the possibility that it is the original site of Paris. Julius Caesar attended an assembly with local Gallic leaders in the area. The topography of Nanterre fits as well for the location of the assembly as the island in the Seine (Île de la Cité) which is an alternative location.
This is an excerpt from Julius’s Caesar book. (It is photographed from my book- details below).
‘In Their Own Words – A Literary Companion To The Origins Of London‘ D A Horizons, Kevin Flude
To buy the Kindle (£2.40) or a paperback version (£5.99), click here.
First written in January 2023, revised and republished January 2024, and 2025
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle-doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
Ripping up the Year
On this day in 1793 the National Convention in Revolutionary France decreed that Year II of the Republic had begun the day before. That is on New Year’s Day, January 1st. But, by October, they decided that the French Revolutionary Calendar should have begun on the Autumn Equinox. So they, retrospectively, made 22 September 1792 the first day of Year I.
By choosing a radical and rational reform of the Calendar the Revolutionaries were following Julius Caesar’s example. His Julian Calender tidied up the old Roman Calendar but kept many of the essentials in place. The French, by contrast, almost completely ripped up the calendrical rule book. For more on the Julian Calendar read my post here.
Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy Months
Let’s start with the names of the months. The concept of the month they kept but got rid of the irrational Latin-based names. They replaced them with neologisms derived from seasonal indicators as you will see.
But it’s more fun to begin with the names as reported, satirically, by John Brady. He published these in England in 1811. The list starts with ‘October’ as the year began at the Winter Solstice. The seasons are separated by semicolons.
Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy and Poppy.
The historian Thomas Carlyle suggested somewhat more serious English names in his 1837 work ‘The French Revolution: A History’ namely:
Each month was a rational 30 days, leaving 5 days of the solar year to be sorted out. These were given to the Sans Culottes as holidays and called complimentary days. The leap year was similarly given to the Sans Culottes; an extra day, every 4 years. It was a copy of the Egyptian year, which had inspired Caesar to make the Roman year rational.
Working flat out 10/10
And like the Egyptians, the 7-day week went out the window. The month was divided into three décades of 10 days. The tenth day, the décadi, being a day of rest. By my calculations, the ‘lucky’ Sans Culottes gained 5 days at the end of the year. But lost 16 Sundays, a net lost of 11 days over the year. I’m guessing they would have been compensated somewhere in the year? By time off to celebrate various revolutionary festivals, such as the 14th July (celebrating the storming of the Bastille)? The days were called primidi (first day) duodi (second day) tridi (third day) etc.
The hours of the day were decimalised. So each day was divided into 10 hours, rather than the 24 hours we use. The hours into 100 decimal minutes, and the minute into 100 decimal seconds. This meant that an hour was 144 conventional minutes; a minute 86.4 conventional seconds, and a second 0.864 conventional seconds.
Thank you, Napoleon?
So, had we adopted the French Revolutionary Calendar as we did the metric system this would be Tridi 13th Nivôse, Year 233. (According to the calculator at French Calendar.)
The French Revolutionary Calendar did not survive Napoleon, who recalled the conventional calendar. Time keeping returned to the Gregorian standard on 1 January 1806.
I do like the idea of the 10-day week. But I would like it to be 6 days of work and 4 days of leisure, thank you. I do wish we could rename our months: Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy and Poppy.
Marble statue of Bacchus from the Temple of Mithras London. The inscription reads ‘hominibus vagis vitam’ Translation … (give) life to men who wander.
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 8 Maids a Milking; 7 Swans a Swimming; 6 Geese a Laying 5 Golden Rings 4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Closing Time
The 8th day, New Years Day, is the day of the Throbbing Head. In ‘Closing Time’ Leonard Cohen wrote about drinking to excess. I like to think he refers to Christmas and New Year’s Day:
‘And the whole damn place goes crazy twice And it’s once for the devil and it’s once for Christ But the boss don’t like these dizzy heights We’re busted in the blinding lights of closing time.
Trouble is the song mentions summer. Oh well. You can enjoy the official video on YouTube below:
Hangover Cure
So what you need is a hangover cure. Nature provides many plants that can soothe headaches. And in the midst of the season of excess, let’s start with a hangover cure.
Common ivy Photo by Zuriel Galindo from unsplash
Ivy and Bacchus
Ivy, ‘is a plant of Bacchus’…. ‘the berries taken before one be set to drink hard, preserve from drunkenness…. and if one hath got a surfeit by drinking of wine, the speediest cure is to drink a draft of the same wine, wherein a handful of ivy leaves (being first bruised) have been boiled.’
Culpeper Herbal 1653 quoted in ‘the Perpetual Almanac’ by Charles Kightly
The image of Bacchus, at the top of the post, is from a fascinating article by the Museum of London on wine making in Roman Britain. Bacchus is often shown with an ivy crown around his head as Romans were wont to wear them to fend of hangovers.
Skullache, and Willow,
Crack Willow Trees on the Oxford Canal, August 2021
One of the best documented folk hangover cure is willow bark. It could be used for headaches, earaches and toothaches. Here is a record of how simple it was to use:
‘I am nearly 70 years old and was born and bred in Norfolk… My father, if he had a ‘skullache’ as he called it, would often chew a new growth willow twig, like a cigarette in the mouth.’
‘A Dictionary of Plant Lore by Roy Vickery (Pg 401)
In the 19th Century, Willow was found to contain salicylic acid from which aspirin was derived. As a child I remember chewing liquorice sticks in a similar way. However, we chewed, supposedly for the pleasure and the sweetness not for the medicinal virtues of the plant.
Country Weather
January 1st’s weather on the 8th Day of Christmas was warm and wet all day. So, according to Gervase Markham, the 8th Month, August, will be similarly warm and drenched. (source: ‘The English Husbandman’ of 1635.)
On this Day
It was the Day of Nymphs in Greece dedicated to Artemis, Andromeda, Ariadne, Ceres. (according to the Goddess Book of Days by Diane Stein.)
Here are listed the public guided walks and tours I have currently got in my diary. I will be adding others all the time.
A Virtual Tour of Jane Austen’s Bath 7.30pm 10th Feb 25 To book Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 11.30am Sat 22nd Feb 25To book Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London 2.30pm Sat 22nd Feb 25 To book Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30am Sat Mar 8th 25 To book Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30pm Sat 8th Mar 25 To book The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 11.30 Sat 22nd March 2025 to Book London. 1066 and All That Walk Sat 2.30pm 22nd March 2025 To Book Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 11.30am Sun 6th Apr 25 To book Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk 2:30pm Sun 6th Apr 25 To book Chaucer’s London To Canterbury Virtual Pilgrimage 7.30pm Friday 18th April 25 To book Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30am Sun 27th Apr 25 To book Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 3:00pm Sun 27th Apr 25 To book Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London 11.30am Sun 25th May 25 To book Charles I and the Civil War. Martyrdom Anniversary Walk Jan 30th 2026 To book For a complete list of my guided walks for London Walks in 2025 look here
Monday 1st January 2025 7.00 pm On this Virtual Walk we look at how London has celebrated the New Year over the past 2000 years.
The New Year has been a time of review, renewal, and anticipation of the future from time immemorial. The Ancient Britons saw the Solstice as a symbol of a promise of renewal as the Sun was reborn. As the weather turns to bleak mid winter, a festival or reflection and renewal cheers everyone up. This idea of renewal was followed by the Romans, and presided over by a two headed God called Janus who looked both backwards and forwards. Dickens Christmas Carol was based on redemption and his second great Christmas Book ‘The Chimes’ on the renewal that the New Year encouraged.
We look at London’s past to see where and how the New Year was celebrated. We also explore the different New Years we use and their associated Calendars – the Pagan year, the Christian year, the Roman year, the Jewish year, the Financial year, the Academic year and we reveal how these began. We look at folk traditions, Medieval Christmas Festivals, Boy Bishops, Distaff Sunday and Plough Monday, and other Winter Festival and New Year London traditions and folklore.
At the end, we use ancient methods to divine what is in store for us in 2023.
The virtual walk finds interesting and historic places in the City of London to link to our stories of Past New Year’s Days. We begin, virtually, at the Barbican Underground and continue to the Museum of London, the Roman Fort; Noble Street, Goldsmiths Hall, Foster Lane, St Pauls, Doctors Commons, St. Nicholas Colechurch and on towards the River Thames.
The Civil War, Restoration and the Great Fire of London Virtual Tour
The Great Fire of London looking towards StPauls Cathedral from an old print
7:30pm Fri 30th January 2026
January 30th is the Anniversary of the execution of Charles I and to commemorate it we explore the events and the aftermath of the Civil War in London.
Along with the Norman Conquest of 1066 and winning the World Cup in 1966 the Great Fire in 1666 are the only dates the British can remember!
And we remember the Great Fire because it destroyed one of the great medieval Cities in an epic conflagration that shocked the world.
But it wasn’t just the Great Fire that made the 17th Century an epic period in English History. There was a Civil War, beheading of the King, a Republic, a peaceful Restoration of the Monarch, the last great plague outbreak in the UK, the Glorious Revolution and the Great Wind.
The Virtual Walk puts the Great Fire in the context of the time – Civil War, anti-catholicism, plague, and the commercial development of London. The walk brings to life 17th Century London. It starts with the events that lead up to the Civil War concentrating on Westminster and ends with a vivid recreation of the drama of the Fire as experienced by eye-witnesses. Route includes: Westminster, Fish Street Hill, Pudding Lane, Monument, Royal Exchange, Guildhall, Cheapside, St Pauls, Amen Corner, Newgate Street, Smithfield.
Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk
11.30 am Sun 27th April 2025 Monument Underground Station
London Roman Riverside Wall o
This is a walking tour features the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and looks at life in the provincial Roman capital of Londinium.
This is a walking tour that features the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and looks at life in the provincial Roman capital of Londinium.
Our Guides will be Publius Ovidius Naso and Marcus Valerius Martialis who will be helped by Kevin Flude, former Museum of London Archaeologist, Museum Curator and Lecturer.
We disembark at the Roman Waterfront by the Roman Bridge, and then explore the lives of the citizens as we walk up to the site of the Roman Town Hall, and discuss Roman politics. We proceed through the streets of Roman London, with its vivid and cosmopolitan street life via the Temple of Mithras to finish with Bread and Circus at the Roman Amphitheatre.
Zinger Read: Talk about a high-quality one-two punch. This walk investigates the groundbreaking archaeological discoveries of Roman London. And then it reconstructs life in a provincial Roman capital using archaeological and literary sources. Discoveries – insights – like flashes of lightning in a cloud. We begin at the site of the Roman bridge. We might be decent young Roman citizens in togas, having this and that bit of explained to us as we make our way towards the Roman Town Hall. From there we head to the site of the excavation called ‘the Pompeii of the North.’ Followed by the Temple of Mithras. We finish with a walk along the Roman High Street in order to end at the site of the Roman Amphitheatre. So, yes, welcome to London as it was 2,000, 1,900, 1,800, 1,700 and 1,600 years ago. And, yes, the walk’s guided by a real expert, the distinguished emeritus Museum of London archaeologist Kevin Flude. That means you’ll see things other people don’t get to see, delve into London via fissures that aren’t visible, let alone accessible, to non-specialists.
REVIEWS “Kevin, I just wanted to drop you a quick email to thank you ever so much for your archaeological tours of London! I am so thrilled to have stumbled upon your tours! I look forward to them more than you can imagine! They’re the best 2 hours of my week! 🙂 Best, Sue
To Book: https://www.walks.com/our-walks/roman-london-a-literary-archaeological-walk/
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Guided Walk
2.30 pm Sunday 9th Feb 2025
Green Park underground station, Green Park exit, by the fountain To book
Also
9 February 2025
Sunday
2.30 pm
4.30 pm
8 March 2025
Saturday
2.30 pm
4.30 pm
6 April 2025
Sunday
11.30 am
1.30 pm
2025 is the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s Birth in Steventon, Hampshire. We celebrate her fictional and real life visits to Mayfair, the centre of the London section of Sense & Sensibility and where Jane came to visit her brother
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Jane Austen devotee in possession of the good fortune of a couple of free hours today must be in want of this walk.”
People associate Jane Austen and her characters with a rural setting. But London is central to both Jane Austen’s real life and her literary life. So, this tour will explore Jane’s connections with London and give the background to Sense and Sensibility, a good part of which is based in this very area. We begin with the place Jane’s coach would arrive from Hampshire, and then walk the streets haunted by Willougby; past shops visited by the Palmers, the Ferrars; visit the location of Jane Austen’s brother’s bank and see the publisher of Jane’s Books. The area around Old Bond Street was the home of the Regency elite and many buildings and a surprising number of the shops remain as they were in Jane Austen’s day.
Jane Austen’s ‘A Picture of London’ in 1809 Virtual Walk
With the help of a contemporary Guide Book, Jane Austen’s letters, and works we explore London in 1809.
‘The Picture of London for 1809 Being a CORRECT GUIDE to all the Curiosities, Amusements, Exhibitions, Public Establishments, and Remarkable Objects in and near London.’
This Guide Book to London might have been on Henry Austen’s shelf when his sister, Jane, came to visit him in London. But it enables us to tour the London that Jane Austen knew in some detail. We will look at the Curiosities as well as the shopping, residential, theatres areas as well as the Port, the Parks and the Palaces.
The guided walk is a thank you to Alix Gronau, who, having been to one of my lectures in 1994, wanted the book to come to me. I have had the book restored and am using it to explore London in 1809.
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30 pm Sunday 9th February 25 To book
My true love sent to me 6 Geese a Laying; 5 Golden Rings; 4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
The Lord of Misrule, Masters of the Revels, and Boy Bishops
The Roman festival of Saturnalia, held between 17th and 23rd of December, included reversing rules so that slaves, ruled and masters served. In the medieval period, the disorder of Christmas was continued with the election of Lords of Misrule, Masters of the Revels, and Boy Bishops.
John Stow’s, Survey of London
He was London’s first great historian, wrote of the Lord of Misrule in London. In this section, Stow begins the role of the Lords of Misrule at Halloween and continues it until Candlemas, in erly February. See my post here for more details on Candlemas. This is what Stow says:
Now for sports and pastimes yearly used.
First, in the feast of Christmas, there was in the king’s house, wheresoever he was lodged, a lord of misrule, or master of merry disports, and the like had ye in the house of every nobleman of honour or good worship, were he spiritual or temporal. Amongst the which the mayor of London, and either of the sheriffs, had their several lords of misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make the rarest pastimes to delight the beholders.
These lords beginning their rule on Alhollon eve, continued the same till the morrow after the Feast of the Purification, commonly called Candlemas day. In all which space there were fine and subtle disguisings, masks, and mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gain.
Against the feast of Christmas every man’s house, as also the parish churches, were decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green. The conduits and standards in the streets were likewise garnished; (…) , at the Leaden hall in Cornhill, a standard of tree being set up in midst of the pavement, fast in the ground, nailed full of holm and ivy, for disport of Christmas to the people…
Holm is an evergreen oak called Quercus ilex. John Stow talks about the Tree in Leadenhall Street being destroyed in the great wind of 1444 which you can read about here. You might also like to see the following posts, which include information about John Stow and London’s customs, and churches.
The First Day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Nebra Sun disc from Stonehenge Exhibition British Museum (photo Kevin Flude) The Disc shows the Sun, the Moon, the Pleides, and illustrates the Summer and Winter Solstice movements of the Sun.
On the 25th December were born Jesus, Mithras, Attis, Saturn, Apollo, and the Invincible Sun.
The Sun Gods have quite a complicated interrelationship. Zeus, and Apollo are both also considered to be Sun Gods. Apollo is particularly interrelated to Helios, the Greek God who drives the Chariot that carries the Sun across the skies every day. The Romans had a God called Sol who some say was a deity who declined to be of minor importance, until the transexual Emperor Elagabalas and then Aurelian in 274 AD revived the cult. Sol Invictus was the focus of Constantine the Great, and has been suggested as a response of the Romans to a trend towards monotheism in the later Roman period. Sol for Constantine was a gateway God to Christianity.
It is also notable that early worship of Jesus is full of solar metaphors, Jesus being, for example, the light of the world. Churches are also virtually all orientated East West, aligned with the rising and setting suns. The Altar is always at the East End, and effigies on tombs face the East.
Did the Celts have a sun-god? Belenos is a contender, but linguists are proposing his name does not come from words meaning bright but from strong. The God Lugh’s name is suggested to mean ‘shining’ but his attributes are more of a warrior than a sun god. Taranis is probably the best candidate, but he is more of a sky or thunder god than specifically a sun god. However, his symbol is a wheel and the wheel is symbolic of the turning of the year.
The Golden Wheel from Haute Marne in France, (Public Domain, Wikipedia)
His 8 spoked wheel is said to be symbolic of the Sun and it represents the division of the year by the 4 quarterly sun festivals (Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox) and the 4 cross-quarter festivals, (Samhain or Halloween, Imbolc or Candlemas, Beltane or May Day, Lughnasa or Harvest Festival).
December 25th is a few days after our reckoning of the Solstice but it was the date of the Roman Solstice.
Christmas Cake
Today, you might be tucking into a Christmas Cake (originally eaten on Twelfth Night). Now, I know many Americans have a bizarre belief that fruit cake is the cake of the devil, something you receive as a gift and give away to someone else, as most Americans hate it. More fool them for missing out on one of the delights of the Christmas period, that and cold turkey sandwiches. Christmas Cake is made on stir up Sunday, the last Sunday in November, to let the ingredients develop their flavour. They are then covered with marzipan and decorative icing.
19th Century Christmas Cake, generally now the icing continues down the side of the cake.
In Germany, they also eat a fruit bread called Stollen or Weihnachtsstollen. The tradition is said to have been started in the 15th Century, when the Pope gave dispensation to allow the use of butter in the fasting period of Advent. The Germans had to use oil to replace the banned butter, but they could only make oil from turnips, so eventually the Pope allowed the use of butter, with which they made bread with added dried fruits.
Stollen By Gürgi – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3720379
In Italy, they eat Panettone, a fruit bread/cake. It is a sourdough, and a cross between a brioche and a cake. It often comes in a beautiful decorative tin, and is delicious. The centre of panettone production is Milan and this year is the 200th Anniversary of Milan’s famous Marchesi 1824 which makes artisanal Panettone from ‘fine ingredients such as six-crown sultanas, naturally candied fruit, Bourbon vanilla from Madagascar, Italian honey and eggs from free-range hens, blended in a slow-rising dough with the exclusive use of Marchesi 1824 sourdough starter‘. Thank you, Mara from Milan, for the heads-up.
Screen shot from website – does not click through to sales!
Which is best? The only way to find out is to eat several slices of each. America, you don’t know what you are missing.
For stir up sunday see the second half of this post of mine.
Helios Colossus of Rhodes, artist’s impression, 1880
Tomorrow is the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. But as, in the Northern Tradition, the day begins at dusk, so Christmas Day really begins on Christmas Eve. So many countries celebrate the eve as much or more than the day. Also the Christian Church follows a similar tradition of beginning the celebrations on the eve. This is said to be following the Jewish tradition. In Genesis are the words;
‘And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.’
Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born on the holy night and thus is celebrated by the midnight mass.
In Germany there is a relatively light dinner often consisting of potato salad and sausages. Gifts are exchanged afterwards.
December 24th is a day for Mothers, as tomorrow, the 25th, will be born Jesus, Mithras, Attis, Saturn, Apollo, and the Day of the Birth of the Invincible Sun, Solis Invictus. And so we think of Mary, Isis, Theia, the Three Mother Goddesses and mothers everywhere.
First Published 24th December 2022, Republished 2023,2024
Capella Palatina Palermo 12th Century Mosaics God is shown creating the firmament. ‘And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters’
We are coming up to the key days in the year. And so will be looking at calendars and counting days. But what about ages and aeons?
‘Practical Magic in the Northern Tradition’ reports that there are seven ages of the world:
The life of a yew tree is 729 years, and there are seven ages from the creation of the world until its doom.
Three wattles are the life of a hound – 9 years Three hounds are the life of a steed – 27 years Three steeds are the life of a man – 81 years Three men are the life of an eagle – 243 years Three Eagles are the life of a yew. – 729 years
The life of a yew is one age, and there are seven ages from the creation until doom, giving a life for our world of 5, 103 years.
Archbishop Usher of Armagh (1581 – 1656) calculated that the world was created in 4004 BC by counting the begettings in the Bible. If we accept his date, and apply the seven yew tree ages rule, then the world should have ended in AD 1099 (give or take a year). However, it doesn’t make sense to me to have a factor of 3 for the smaller divisions, and then to switch to a factor of seven . So, if there were nine ages of the world, then it would survive for 6561 years, which will end in approx. 535 years time. This calculation has the advantage of not yet being proved wrong! (Please note, cult owners, I have copyright on this date).
It’s notable that when a Cult declares the imminent end of the world, and they trudge up to the top of a high eminence to observe it (normally by Hampstead Pond in London). They seem quite happy to trudge back down again, and are soon up and running again with the same enthusiasm for the next ‘end of the world’ date.)
By the way, the Capella Palatina, illustrated above, is a marvel of gold mosaics and absolutely stunning. It makes a trip to Palermo a must. It’s also seems strange to find a Norman state so far south.
The Jewish tradition was for six or seven ages of 1000 years. The seventh didn’t really count because it was the age of the messiah when there was a 1000-year sort of super sabbath. Or another idea is that it was an age that ran parallel with the other six. So the world was to be 6000 years long.
With the coming of Christianity, dating the Creation, and therefore the Day of Judgement, became more important. (the Romans dated from the foundation of Rome, and the Greeks from the First Olympiad, but they had a whole mythology and creation myths about a Golden Age, preceding their base Iron age and the Bronze Age.)
An early Christian attempt to tell the age of creation was the Anno Munda‘s arrangement of the Year. This is pretty complicated and is based on a Talmudic tradition. A late Roman version uses ‘the Diocletian Years’, which is when the persecution of Christians began. It held that the world was created 5500 years before the Birth of Christ. So we are 5500BC plus 2024 years before the date of the creation. And it was supposed to have ended in 500AD, 6000 years after the Creation. so we have outlived Creation by 15024 years.
St Augustine of Hippo took the tradition of six ages and brought it into the Christian canon. These are the six ages:
The First Age “is from the beginning of the human race, that is, from Adam, who was the first man that was made, down to Noah, who constructed the ark at the time of the flood“, i.e. the Antediluvian period.
The Second Age “extends from that period on to Abraham, who was called the father indeed of all nations”.
The Third Age “extends from Abraham on to David the king”.
The Fourth Age is “from David on to that captivity whereby the people of God passed over into Babylonia”.
The Fifth Age is “from that transmigration down to the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ“
The Sixth Age: “With His [Jesus Christ’s] coming, the sixth age has entered on its process.”
As each age is 1000 years, then you can see why so many people were worried as 1000 AD approached.
Of course, six is not such a magical number as seven, and so Shakespeare ran with the idea in the Seven Ages of Man spoken by Jacques in ‘As you like it’. If there are seven ages of human life, and we have a span of six score and ten, then each age is ten years.
The Seven Ages of Man
All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then, a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then, the justice, In fair round belly, with a good capon lined, With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws, and modern instances, And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. (Jacques, Act 2, Scene 7)
Seven Ages of Man Statue 22-foot high cast aluminium Sculpture by Richard Kindersley, located on Queen Victoria Street, Blackfriars, near the Blackfriars. St Andrew’s by the Wardrobe in the background. Photos k. Flude
The Kalendar of Shepherds
Now, the Kalendar of Shepherds has a similar idea, but it calculates it differently. The Kalendar, based on a 15th Century French original, says there are 12 ages of man, corresponding with the 12 months of the year. Each age is 6 years long, and so our likely lifespan is 72.
Kalendar of Shepherds
Each month is allocated to one of the ages, and each month has an insight into human life for that span. So in January we note the first 6 years, if you read above you will see we have no ‘wit, strength or cunning, and we may do nothing that profiteth’.
A little harsh, and as a fond grandfather, it, I refute it, except maybe the first 6 years should not be down to profit.
How Old is a Yew Tree/Eagle
A comment by a reader has prompting me to write the following lines on the discussion of the ages given above:
‘Practical magic’ says the poem is ‘Ancient’ so it’s folklore and not science, so the ages are opinion not scientific fact.
As I understand it Yew trees live a long time but not quite as long as many people think. I base this on the Yew Tree at Steventon, Hampshire where Jane Austen was born, which has/had a plague on it saying it was 1200 years old. I used to visit it regularly and. On one visit, was told that an expert opinion suggested it was more like 700 years old (if memory serves). I do not have the details, but my source would have been one of the people associated with the Church.
The Woodland Trust (says Yew Trees get old at 900 years and cites a few which are ‘said to be’ over 2000 years old. But are they? The scientific sites I have looked at suggest that Yew Trees should be described as ‘ancient’ from 400 not 900 years, and there are problems with dendrochronology dating of yew trees, and so most methods depend upon an estimation from the width of the tree trunk. But that, itself, depends upon how much you believe in the claims for the ancient trees. So, I think it’s best to take the extreme cases with a very large pitch of salt. So 729 years is probably not so far off the mark for a Yew tree.
As to Eagles, this website on eagles says they can live to 30ish in the wild and 68 years in captivity, so the claim for 243 years is way off the mark!
On This Day
1843 – Charles Dickens published ‘A Christmas Carol’
First Published on December 18th 2022, revised and republished in December 2023, 2024
So, the old Sun is dying, and if the Sun keeps going down we are all going to die. To keep our anxiety to a minimum with all of nature seeming to be dying or hibernating, evergreens are a symbol of a promise/proof that life will continue through the dark days. So, with its bright-green leaves and its luminous berries, Holly is the ideal evergreen for the Solstice. And as the prickles symbolise Christ’s Crown of Thorns, and the berries the red blood of Jesus, the symbolism works, too, for Christians.
‘Ivy’ says Culpeper in his Herbal of 1653, says its winter-ripening berries are useful to drink before you ‘set to drink hard’ because it will ‘preserve from drunkenness’. And, moreover, the leaves (bruised and boiled) and dropped into the same wine you had a ‘surfeit’ of the night before provides the ‘speediest cure’. (The Perpetual Almanac of Charles Kightly)
Henry Mayhew (editor of Punch) in his ‘London Labour and London Poor’ (1851–62) talks of Christmasing for Laurel, Ivy, Holly, and Mistletoe. He calculated that 250,000 branches of Holly were purchased from street coster mongers every Christmas. He says that every housekeeper will expend something from 2d to 1s 6d, while the poor buy a pennyworth or halfpennyworth each. He says that every room will have the cheery decoration of holly. St Pauls Cathedral would take 50 to a 100 shillings worth.
He also calculates that 100,000 plum puddings are eaten. Mistletoe he believes is less often used than it used to be, and he hopes that ‘No Popery’ campaigners will not attack Christmassing again.
Hot plum pudding seller from Sam Syntax Cries of London, 1820s from the Gentle Author Spitalfields Life website
Culpeper on Ivy (1814 edition):
It is so well known to every child almost, to grow in woods upon the trees, and upon the stone walls of churches, houses, &c. and sometimes to grow alone of itself, though but seldom.
Time. It flowers not until July, and the berries are not ripe until Christmas, when they have felt Winter frosts.
Government and virtues. It is under the dominion of Saturn. A pugil of the flowers, which may be about a dram, (saith Dioscorides) drank twice a day in red wine, helps the lask, and bloody flux. It is an enemy to the nerves and sinews, being much taken inwardly, out very helpful to them, being outwardly applied. Pliny saith, the yellow berries are good against the jaundice; and taken before one be set to drink hard, preserves from drunkenness, and helps those that spit blood; and that the white berries being taken inwardly, or applied outwardly, kills the worms in the belly. The berries are a singular remedy to prevent the plague, as also to free them from it that have got it, by drinking the berries thereof made into a powder, for two or three days together. They being taken in wine, do certainly help to break the stone, provoke urine, and women’s courses. The fresh leaves of Ivy, boiled in vinegar, and applied warm to the sides of those that are troubled with the spleen, ache, or stitch in the sides, do give much ease. The same applied with some Rosewater, and oil of Roses, to the temples and forehead, eases the head-ache, though it be of long continuance. The fresh leaves boiled in wine, and old filthy ulcers hard to be cured washed therewith, do wonderfully help to cleanse them. It also quickly heals green wounds, and is effectual to heal all burnings and scaldings, and all kinds of exulcerations coming thereby, or by salt phlegm or humours in other parts of the body. The juice of the berries or leaves snuffed up into the nose, purges the head and brain of thin rheum that makes defluxions into the eyes and nose, and curing the ulcers and stench therein; the same dropped into the ears helps the old and running sores of them; those that are troubled with the spleen shall find much ease by continual drinking out of a cup made of Ivy, so as the drink may stand some small time therein before it be drank. Cato saith, That wine put into such a cup, will soak through it, by reason of the antipathy that is between them.
There seems to be a very great antipathy between wine and Ivy; for if one hath got a surfeit by drinking of wine, his speediest cure is to drink a draught of the same wine wherein a handful of Ivy leaves, being first bruised, have been boiled.
Happy Eponalia
Roman Horse from Bunwell, Norfolk. Illustration by Sue Walker.
In 2021 I posted about Eponalia for the 18th Dec but I have now added it here and this is what I said:
I’ve been too busy working on my Jane Austen and Christmas Virtual Tour (I have just done that again this year) to post over the last few days. And I have, therefore, shamelessly stolen this post off my Facebook friend Sue Walker, who is a talented archaeological illustrator, artist and a very good photographer.
She wrote: ‘the 18th December is the festival of the Celtic goddess Epona, the protector of horses, she was adopted by the Romans and became a favourite with the cavalry. This finely sculpted bronze horse with a head dress and symbol on its chest is 37mm high – found in Bunwell #Norfolk #Archaeology’
