Nevada County picayune., 1891-07-16
Names of the Months, etc.

] the Curious give tue organ anu lilS- l tory of the days of the week and of the months. To begin with, in an cicnt times the people worshipped the images gods, valiant soldiers and saints from some of the most impor- tant of these came the names applied to the different days of the week.
 From an idol of the sun comes Sunday or, in other words, upon the day we now hold sacred as the Sabbath, the ancients worshippcd the idol.
 On the second day of the week the old Saxons worshlpped the moon, calling it "Moonday." We drop one "o'' and call it Monday.
 Tuisco, from which the word Tues day is derived, was one of the most ancient gods of ancient Germany {; the third day of the week was dcdi, cated to his worship.
 Woden, from whom we have the name Wednesday,, was Prince of high standing among the SaXons. His image was prayed to for victory, On the third day after each succeed ing sun worship the old SaXons spent hours invoking the blessings of Woden.
 Thor was god of the chase an' was represented as being seated on a couch of skins with twelve stars over his head and sceptre in his hand. Thursday or "Thor's day was the day Thor was worshipped.
 Frigga, from whom Friday is de- rived, was either a god or goddess, according to time and country. As man he was a great hunter and warrior, always represented with a drawn sword in one hand and a bow in the other. In the Scandinavian countries Frigga was called the ''Ne- nus of the North," and the sixth day of the week was consecrrted to her worship.
 Saturday is said to have taken it's name from Saturn, and to literally mean "Saturn's day" Saturn, in mythology, is one of the oldest and principal deities. The seventh day of the week was reserved for his wOr- ship. As q Saxon devinity Sater oc- cupies a similar position. He was represented as thin-yisaged, long haired individual whose looks be- spoke one thoroughly wretched.
 In looking up the peculiar names given to each of the l2 months of the year, it becomes necessary for us to go back to the time of the old Ro- mans, who have imposed upon us a set of names for the months equally as absurd as those the Norsemen, | the Scandinayians and SaXons ap- piled to the days of the week.
 January is from Janus, the god of doors and gates; his month opened the year some say that he was two- faced and could look back on the past year and forward to the coming.
 February is from februo, to pu- rify.
 March was originally the first month of the year, and named for Mar, the god of war.
 April is from aperre, to open, and is so called because it is the month of opening buds.
 May is said to have been so called in honor of Naia, the mother of Mer- cury, but this appears to be erron- eous. Modern photographers con- cur in the opinion that the root of the word is contraction of the Latin word magins, and that it simply means to grow, or the month of growth.
 June is from Juno, the patron saint of marriage, and is, therefore, the fayorite month for weddings.
 July was named for Julius Caesar and August for Augustus Caesar Or | iginally, so the story goes, August had but 90 days and February 20 in the common year and 30 in leap years. Augustus was jealous that Juiius's month had more days than his own. Therefore he took one day from February and added it to Au- gust.
 September, October, November and December are so called because they were originally the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth months of the year. The names are inappro- prlatc and rank misnomers as now applied,