Tag: calendar

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St Chad & Roman Weeks March 2nd

St Chad’s Church, Hackney. Statue of Bishop (possibly St Chad?!) Photo K Flude

St Chad

Today, is the Feast Day of St Chad who died on 2nd March 672. St Chad’s Church, Hackney is 400 yards from my house. It is a massive late 19th Century Church. Grade 1 listed built by James Brooks in 1869 in ‘his austere and muscular red-brick Gothic.’

Chad is the patron saint of medicinal springs,[37] although other listings[38] do not mention this patronage. St. Chad's Day (2 March) is traditionally considered the most propitious day to sow broad beans in England.
photo of
St Chad’s Church Haggerston, London. Photo K Flude
st chad's Vicarage, St Chad's Church, Hackney
St Chad’s Vicarage, 1870 St Chad’s Church, Hackney. Photo K. Flude

Chad was possibly of Celtic origins but associated with the Anglian nobility in Northumberland. He was a pupil of St Aidan who set up the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. He spent time in Ireland, then became an Abbot, and then Bishop to the Northumbrians at York, and to the Mercians at Lichfield. His brother was St Cedd, who was important in early Christian Essex and Yorkshire.

Chad was very humble, refusing to ride around his diocese, preferring to walk, Whenever there was a violent storm, he would prostrate himself to pray to save his people. The weather, he believed, was one of the ways God communicated with his people. This might reflect his Celtic origins. Chad is the patron saint of medicinal springs according to one source. St. Chad’s Day (2 March) is said to be the best time to sow broad beans in England. You see a humble man.

March & Pisces

Attributes of Pisceans selfless, mystical compassionate imaginative sensitive
pisces from the zodiac from kalendar of shepherds
From the zodiac from kalendar of shepherds

Roman Weeks & (Months, hours, minutes and 24/7, 60/360)

I have been discussing the way the Roman Calendar used to work.  Now it is our turn to look at the week.  A week is a division of a month. 

Oxford Languages says the:

Old English mōnath, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch maand and German Monat, also to Moon.

It derives from the Moon, and its length is roughly the length the moon takes to complete its cycle. So the obvious division of the month is into the phases of the Moon.  The early Romans chose to keep the lunar associations with their division of the month.  Their month is divided according to the Moon’s phases into the Kalends, the Nones and the Ides, as I describe in my Ides of March post here.

But keeping the phases of the moon coordinated with the movements of the sun as well as of the moon, is very difficult to do without very complicated arrangements.

Following Julius Caesar’s successful calendar reforms, Constantine the Great wanted to make his own contribution to the rationalisation of the calendar.

So, he got rid of the moon based Kalends, Ides and Nones, and established the week as the main subdivision of the month.

To please the Christians, he swopped the day of leisure from old man Saturn’s Day to the Son of God’s Day Sunday.  This is the day Jesus ascended to heaven, but it was also the day for Mithras and the Unconquered Sun, so keeping some pagans happy. He then established the 7 day week.  7 was a sacred number and the number of the ‘planets’ in the Solar System (5 planets plus the sun and moon).

In Britain, we clung to some of our pagan names for the weeks. So Saturday, Sunday and Monday are Roman in origin  while Tuesday – Friday are Anglo Saxon, named after the deities: Tiv, Woden,Thor, and Freya. 

The Latin origins of the days of the week are obvious in the Romance languages, French, Spanish and Italian.  Lundi from the moon, Mardi from Mars, Mecredi from Mercury, Jeudi from Jupiter, and Vendredi from Venus.   Samedi came from  Saturn. Dimanche from dies Dominica which means the lord’s day.

The order of the days comes from their position in the sky. Not in their position  around the Sun but their position in the zodiac. Babylon created the scheme of a division of the sky into 24 hour long sections, a god presided over each division. It is too complicated to explain but there were 7 deities and 24 divisions, so the  deities rotated and did more than one shift. Babylon used the numerical base of 60.  So we have 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 360 degrees in a circumference.  

Other societies ignored hours until we had clocks to measure them.  Anglo Saxons divided days by tides; morningtide, eventide and nighttide

Ages of man

As I have mentioned before, prophecy often sees a connection between the yearly calendar and future events.  For example, if it rains on the fourth day of the twelve days of Christmas then it will rain during the fourth month (they say).  The Kalendar of Shepherds illustrates this method giving a comparison between the ages of man and the months of the year. Twelve months in a year, Twelve ages of man in six year blocks. So March represents ages twelve to eighteen, as it says this is the ‘time to learn doctrine and science’.

Kalendar of Shepherds (translation from French 15th Century original)

First written in March 2023 revised on 2nd March 2024, St Chad added 2025

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Winter’s End February 7th

Photo of the cover of Winter's in the World by Eleanor Parker
Winter’s in the World by Eleanor Parker

Eleanor Parker’s book, on the Anglo-Saxon Year, is a wonderful book. It has a poetry about it, that also provides an insight into how Anglo-Saxon thought the world works. For a non-Old-English speaker, it, also, really gives some understanding of the language. It reveals that for the Anglo-Saxons, Winter’s End was on the 7th February. We are now in the season of ‘lencten’. This probably comes from ‘lenghtening days’ or Spring as we call it. The word eventually got absorbed into the Christian calendar, giving us the name of the fasting season, which is ‘Lent’.

So Winter began, for the Anglo-Saxon, on 7th October and ended on the 7th February. January was called ‘Gēola‘ the month of Yule. February ‘Sol-mōnaþ‘ which is Mud month. The Venerable Bede in the 8th Century calls this the:

‘month of cakes which they offered to their gods in that month’.

Bede tells us that before conversion to Christianity, the Anglo-Saxons had two seasons – Winter and Summer. Winter began on the first full moon of October, which they called Winterfylleth. The summer was called ‘sumor’ or ‘gear’ which developed into our word ‘year’.

manuscript drawing possibly of the Venerable Bede
Thought to be the Venerable Bede, the first historian of the English

Roman, Celtic and Saxon Winter’s End

There is some sense in Winter’s End on February 7th. Lambs are being born; buds and shoot are appearing on branches and poking up from the cold earth. So, their winter is essentially, the time when nothing is growing, while ours is more aligned to the coldest period.

The Roman author Marcus Terentius Varro divided the Roman Year into 8 phrases and his Winter/Spring divide is also on 7th February. This is when, in Italy, the west winds began to blow warmer weather. So farmers ‘purged’ the fields, readying them for planting. They would be cleared of old growth and debris. Then blessed, weeded, pruned with particular attention given to preparing the grain fields, the vineyards, olive trees and fruit trees.

The Celtic year began at Halloween, and the spring begins with Imbolc, a week earlier than the Saxon on the 1st of February.

Anglo-Saxon Winter

In the section on Winter Eleanor Parker gives a poetic description of winter. What seems particularly interesting about it is that the harshness of winter is often paired with descriptions of the ruins of Roman Civilisation. So, the despair of winter, the barren soil, the fight for survival is made more melancholic by the comparison to failed civilisation. Nature battering away at the useless ruins, and the destruction of people’s dreams.

Here, is a flavour of the juxtaposition of the bleakness of winter and the sadness of lost society. It is from ‘The Wanderer’ an alliterative poem from the Exeter Book, dating from the late 10th century. I have presumed to change a couple of words to make it a little more accessible.

Who’s wise must see how ghostly it has been
when the world and its things stand wasted —
like you find, here and there, in this middle space now —
there walls totter, wailed around by winds,
gnashed by frost, the buildings snow-lapt.
The winehalls molder, their Lord lies
washed clean of joys, his people all perished,
proud by the wall. War ravaged a bunch
ferried along the forth-way, others a raptor ravished
over lofty seas, this one the hoary wolf
broke in its banes, the last a brother
graveled in the ground, tears as war-mask.

“That’s the way it goes—
the Shaper mills middle-earth to waste
until they stand empty, the giants’ work and ancient,
drained of the dreams and joys of its dwellers.”

Translation Dr. Aaron K. Hostetter.

As I read this I wonder if it is a tradition that began in the cold of Scandinavia? England, at least Southern England, can often have mild, rather than ferocious winters?

However, there is also an idea about the circularity of life and the interconnectedness of everything. There are 4 Seasons, 4 Ages of Man, and the cycle was from childhood to old age, from Spring to Winter. We start young, and become vigorous, and then we decline and eventually die. And so does the world of the Anglo-Saxons. The world of Adam was young, restored to vigour by the coming of Jesus. Now the World was in its old age awaiting the Apocalypse, before the Day of Judgement. So Winter was connected with Old Age and Death.

Bede’s Metaphor for Winter

Parker recounts a beautiful image of Bede’s. The King of Northumberland is thinking of taking his wife’s religion. He, therefore, invites the Christian evangelist, Paulinus to his court. Inclined to convert. He asks the opinion of one of his pagan advisers, who answers to the effect.

‘We are in the Great Hall, gathered warm with friends and family around the roaring fire, with Winter raging outside. A sparrow comes in from a hole in the end wall, flies through the warm of the Hall, and flies out through the other side. Such is life. The Hall is this world, we are the Sparrow, and as pagans we have no idea what happens before we enter the Hall, nor what happens after we leave. How much better it is to embrace a religion that can give us certainty as to what happens when we leave the hall.’

Lovely image, although, the pagan adviser does seem to have made his mind up?

For the Ancient Grecian Winter looked at my Post on Hesiod

For Selene the moon Goddess see February 7th here.

For the Roman Festival of Winter look at my post on the Festival of Brumalia

First published in February 2023, republished on 7th February 2024, 2025

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July Julius Caesar’s Month

July – Kalendar of Shepherds 15th Century

July is named for Julius Caesar. Originally, the Roman Month was called Quintilis, as it was the fifth month of the Roman calendar, which originally started in March. Caesar reformed the calendar in 44BC and the Senate renamed the month after him.

It is called Lúil in Irish and Gorffennaf in Welsh. In Anglo Saxon July was Æfteraliða, or “after-mild;”, Liða, means “mild” or “gentle,” or the period of warm weather around Midsummer. June is Arraliða, or “before-mild”.

It is on average the warmest month in most of the Northern Hemisphere, where it is the second month of summer. The star signs for July are: Cancer (until July 22) and Leo (July 23 onwards),

‘

July is the month of Haymaking, as you can see from the July image (above from in the Kalendar of Shepherds). To find out more, wait for the next post.From the Kalendar of Shepherds comes this description of July.

First published, in 2023 and republished in 2024.

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Beware the Ides of March March 15th

shows an image of Brutus stabbing Caesar with 'funny' bubbles: Caesar says 'Brutus, whats that loud pelting noise on the roof' and Brutus replies, about to stab Julius Caesar 'Hail, Caesar'
With Apologies. From Facebook

SOOTHSAYER: Caesar!
CAESAR: Ha! Who calls?
CASCA: Bid every noise be still; peace yet again!
CAESAR: Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music
Cry ‘ Caesar!’ Speak. Caesar is turned to hear.
SOOTHSAYER: Beware the ides of March.
CAESAR: What man is that?
BRUTUS: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
CAESAR: Set him before me; let me see his face.
CASSIUS: Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.
CAESAR: What sayst thou to me now? Speak once again.
SOOTHSAYER: Beware the ides of March.
CAESAR: He is a dreamer. Let us leave him. Pass.

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

This year there are many vital elections around the world; often involving populists like Julius Caesar. I rank Caesar with Napoleon as one of the Dictators who was, personally, an intelligent, reasonable man, who, in some ways, ruled ‘wisely’ but who was nonetheless willing to sacrifice millions of people for his personal ambition. Today, the world is faced with the more run-of-the-mill populists who are geniuses only in their own, often, deranged minds. I know, we as humans, might think, if only X would drop dead, how much better it would be? Brutus, being an honourable man, took action upon his thought. But, as often is the case, what seemed the ‘right thing’ to do, turned out to be a disaster for the Roman Republic which the plotters were trying to save. So, perhaps, still those assassinary thoughts, read this article in ‘History Today’ about the impact of Julius Caesar’s murder and do everything you can do to use democratic means to defeat egotists to whom truth means nothing.

Now, what the heck are or indeed is the Ides of March?

A Roman month was divided into three, first the Kalends, then the Nones and finally the Ides. These three days were the important days of the year. The Kalends is the 1st of the Month, the Nones the 7th of the Month and the Ides the Fifteenth of the Month. It is said to go back to the early days of Rome and a lunar calendar, The Kalends being the first tiny sliver of a crescent moon a couple of days after the New Moon; the Nones the first quarter of the Moon and the Ides was the full moon. But of course, it doesn’t really make that much sense as the full moon is 28 days after the new Moon not 15, and the three divisions, divide up the first half of the month, and leave the second half undivided.

How did you use it? When talking about a day in the future month you might say I’ll meet you on the 5th day before the Kalends. Debts were supposed to be paid on the Kalends and that is where we get our word calendar from. These public calendars were called Fasti, and this is the name of Ovid’s great Almanac Poem, the Fasti, which I often quote from.

This is a very bad photograph of a drawing by Herbert E Duncan Jr of a 1st Century Calendar
This is a very bad photograph of a drawing by Herbert E Duncan Jr of a 1st Century Calendar

I’ve never really understood this system, despite a few attempts, until I saw this drawing of a Roman Calendar. The first column, on the left, with the letters from D downwards represent the letters A – H which is a recurring cycle of 8 market days, running in tandem with Kalends, Nones etc. The second column begins with the Letter K for Kalends, (reading across then MART for March, then NP which means the Kalends is a day for public festivals). Back to the second column, below the K for Kalends, the days are counted down to the upcoming Nones, so the next one after Kalends is VI, meaning the 6th day before the March Nones. Then V, IIII, III, and PR means the day before Nones. Below and to the right of the PR are the letters NON which is, as you might hope, short for Nones.

In the second column below this is the number VIII which means the next day is the 8th day before the Ides of March. The fragment of stone from which this drawing comes does not continue down to the Ides, unfortunately.

Complicated, huh? It gets worse. The third column has a series of letters in it: F C C C NP NON F C C. We already know that the NON is short for Nones, The F means it’s a fastus, a permissible day when legal action can be taken. The C means C comitialis which on fasti days the Roman people could hold assemblies. We have already seen that NP marks days for public festivals. An N would mean days when political and judicial actions were prohibited, although there is not one here. The small unreadable text to the right is information, I believe, about holidays and historic events to be marked in the calendar. This is, in fact, a Roman Stone Almanac.

This confusing system survived Caesar’s major calendrical reforms when he transformed the Roman system, which was rotten at the core, to align it with an almost accurate calculation of the time the Sun takes to circle the earth (or the other way around!) to create the almost correct Julian Calendar.

But the Kalends, Nones, and Ides did not survive because, in the Imperial period, this strange division of time was replaced by the familiar 4 fold division of the month into our 7 days of a week. So, for the first time, you could work 24/7.

I will deal with Julius Caesar’s reforms in great depth on another occasion.

See also my post on the 10 month early Roman year,