We all no doubt recall the well-known rhyme that helps us to remember the number of days in each month: Thirty days hath September,April, June and November;February has twenty eight aloneAll the rest have thirty-oneExcept in Leap Year, that’s the timeWhen February’s Days are twenty-nine. Like many other months in our year September derives itsContinue reading “The Month of September“
Tag Archives: Rural calendar
The Month of June
The gypsy folk of times past often said that when there was no “R” in the month then it was “safe” to eat pork, how true this is has yet to be verified even by Brewers’ Phrase & Fable. However, it certainly indicates how familiar they were with the old Judaic and Muslim taboos andContinue reading “The Month of June”
“Beware the Ides of March”
When writing the play “Julius Caesar”, William Shakespeare must have been aware that the Roman Empire, as it then stood, had already reached the zenith of its expansion east and west and was actually in the process of decline. From the internal wrangling of internecine conflicts portrayed in Julius Caesar the scene switches in AnthonyContinue reading ““Beware the Ides of March””
The Month of February
At this rather bleak time of the agricultural year many hedges, gates, walls and fences would be inspected for damage and repaired. The arable fields would be harrowed and land previously sown with root crops would be turned over and in sheltered positions the early peas would be sown in the following month. Sometime beforeContinue reading “The Month of February”
“Saturnalia”, the Month of December
“Yeah, Santa Claus is coming to town, tonight!” In writing this series of monthly accounts describing the customs and traditions of the British Isles I had hoped to emphasise the eternal, cyclic nature of time as opposed to the immutable projection of time as a linear illusion. In this sense, like Spike Milligan; “I’m walkingContinue reading ““Saturnalia”, the Month of December”
Qudos Academy 