Tag: michaelmas

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Michaelmas Old Style – October 11th

Michaelmas Old Style. St. Michael weighing souls during the Last Judgement, Antiphonale Cisterciense (15th century), Abbey Bibliotheca, Rein Abbey, Austria (Wikimedia by Dnalor_01 license (CC-BY-SA 3.0))

I am catching up as I have been away. So I’m a little behind in my days.

October 11th is the day that the Devil fell out of heaven and landed in a Blackberry Bush. So. you are, therefore, not wise to eat them after October 11th. St Michael’s Day is now celebrated on September 29th (see my post here). But before September 1752, it was celebrated on what is now October 11th, now styled ‘Michaelmas Old Style’. The change of date is due to the introduction in the UK of the Gregorian Calendar.

Saint Michael is the chief of the archangels. Saint Gabriel was celebrated on the eve of the Annunciation on 24 March (see my post here). St Raphael on the 24th October, But more recently the Churches celebrate all the Archangels at Michaelmas. It is now called the celebration of St Michael and All Angels.

Terms. Colleges, Lawyers and Quarterdays

Apart from its religious significance, St Michael’s Mass was an important date on the civic calendar. Terms began, rent fell due, and work contracts ran out. It was the end of the ploughman’s year, and the day when Hiring Festivals or Mop Festivals took place. Look at my post on the Stratford Mop festival

So in Oxford, the autumn term is called Michaelmas. The Spring Term Hilary on St Hilary’s Festival of January 14th. The third term is called Trinity, which takes place on Trinity Sunday the first Sunday after Pentecost. The law courts also have a Michaelmas term.

It is one of the Quarter Day’s of the year, close to the Solstices and the Equinox into which the medieval and early modern world was divided:

(The above list is copied from Wikipedia).

Eat a Goose for Good luck at Michaelmas

It is probably too late to tell you this year. But “if you eat goose on Michaelmas Day you will never lack money all year“. Or as they said in Yorkshire: ‘He’at eateth goose on Michaelmas won’t find his pockets short of brass.’ Jane Austen wrote to Cassandra on Michaelmas 1813 ‘I dined upon goose today, which I hope with secure a good sale of my second edition.’ Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813.

St Michael is one of several archangels. He was protector of the Israel. He has four main roles in heaven. He is the leader of the heavenly host in its defeat of Satan. He is the Angel of Death, the Weigher of Souls, and the Guardian of the Church. For more on archangels, see the second half of my post on Michaelmas here.

On this day

The Romans celebrated ‘meditrinalia’ where they celebrated the new wine and the Gods that made it possible. They toasted the wine chanting:

‘I drink old and new wine to cure old and new disease.’

First Published in 2024, revised in 2025

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Michaelmas, St Michael and All Angels September 29th

Detail from ‘The Creation and the Fall of Man’ by Mariotta Alberinelli 1513-14 showing Archangels helping in the creation of Eve from Adam’s Rib’

September 29th used to be St Michael’s Day, or Michaelmas. But in the 20th Century, the Catholic Church made it the day to celebrate the three chief Archangels and all Angels. Previously, September 29th was for St Michael, March 24th for St Gabriel, and October 24th for St Raphael.

It was an important day in the medieval civil calendar and was the date on which Oxford, Cambridge and the Legal system started their autumn terms. It is also the date the Lord Mayor of London is elected at Guildhall in the City of London.

For more about Michaelmas see my post on Old Michaelmas.

Michaelmas Daisies in my Father’s Garden

About this time, the Michaelmas Daisy (an Aster) comes out in profusion. They have been out in my Father’s garden since August, but have only been flowering for a few weeks in my own garden. Here is an old rhyme:

“The Michaelmas daisies, among dead weeds, Bloom for St Michael’s valorous deeds …

The Angelic Host

Personally, I don’t understand what Archangels are doing in a monotheistic religion. They seem to be supernatural demigods which seems odd. The Book of Revelations is one of the most important sources, but they are scattered around the Bible. Perhaps the most famous is the visitation of Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, (see my post here)They are 15 Archangels:Adabiel, Azrael, Chamuel, Gabriel, Haniel, Jeremiel, Jophiel, Melatron, Michael, Raguel, Raphael, Raziel, Sandalphon, Uriel, and Zadkiel.

Melatron has to be my favourite, given his name which sounds like something from a kids superheros cartoon! He is made from the human Enoch and Keeper of the Book of Life so perhaps the most powerful of the Archangels. He is good for relationship, career, and parenting advice!

The Book of Enoch mentions 200 Fallen Angels including Satan, but Alphonso di Spina a 15th Century Monk calculated there were 133 million fallen angels, one third of the original Angelic Host.

What are Angels for? Something to give us hope that somewhere, somehow something might be looking out for us? As Sir Antony Gormley says of the Angel of the North ;“People are always asking, why an angel? The only response I can give is that no-one has ever seen one and we need to keep imagining them.”

First Written in September 2025