The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1893-01-10

now They Came to BE Named Eyoln-
tion sf.tbe Present Calendar.

AtoN 81 ltut AIftatut OnlGuNnEs
January begins the year aud lookr
both ways--toward the year just past
and that just coming It was therefore
named by the Romans for their god Of
war, Janus. He had two faces. and
was therefore callea Janus Bifrons,
which may be freew translated "Holy
1 Two-front." Originally this was only
the eleventh month, and the four pre-
ceding were named from Scptein, Octo,
Novem and Decen, vs. they then were
the seventh, eighth, ninth end tenth
months. It wollld take 10 small volume
to explain how, az a enaint cid almanac
/ says, such sixes and snch seyens the
months were Knocked 20 that ten be-
came translated into octo. Suffice it tc
say, January bcgins tho year now, and
the other months are to be explained in
their turn
February was an unfortunate month
from the start. Tie Romans did not at
! first intend to have any such month, but
finding the year all askew they added
some days at the last of it, and desig-
mated them as the days "to purify
(''februare" in old Latin). Finding they
had set the timo too early they put the
new month after January and measured
] it by the moon. When they began to
''purify" for tho coming summer they
ate beans instead of meat, and therefore
named the season Lent ('lentes"--
beans). BY miscounting the days, how
ever, their year soon got two months be-
hind, and Julius Cesar overhauled it
again.
March is O name of war. The Romans
named it for Mars, their war god, per-
haps because winter and spring contend
for the month. We owe the Romans one
for making this the third month, for
this laid the basis for some of our finest
old crusted jokes, ssuch as March
forthl" addressed to the retiring presi-
dent, and the chestnutty minstrel COM
mand to the stage soldiers, january,
February, March, Let us remember
the Romans, even for this little. On
second thought, let us remember them
all the more as they were not in gen.
eral way humorous people.
April is supposed to be so called be-
cause things open about that time
Natin "aperire'O. 1t is the aperient
month, so to speak. Having no mythology
the month is in this latitude sacred to
catarrh. When the new humanity does
away with all old superstition and re-
establishes pure Saxon language, as it
| promises to do, this will probably be
called Springchickenmonth or Kuch-
leinmonath or Sneezereezer or some
tender little name of chat instructive
sort.
May is by common consent the syno-
nyln for flowers and poetry. women and
! children, music and moonlight-every-
thing sweet and soft. AS a matter of
fact the popular poetry for the month
| would suit the last half of it and the
first half or June much better. The
Romans named it from Maia, daughter
of Atlas and mother of Mercury. The
Romans seldom got married in May, as
the festival of the dead was celebrated
early in the month. 1t is bad omen to
- taken sick in this month-especially
for farmers and gardeners.
Juno was the wife of Jupiter in clas-
sic mythology and made it hot for him
hence June. Some say, however, that
it was so called because it was the
month for young men juniores). Juno
was the great goddess of motherhood
and growing nature, and SO the Romans
honored this month with her name. She
was also subject to sudden storms of
wrath and jealousy and was very vim
dictive, which led Virgil to ask
dwell2
August, with its thirty-one days, is a
perpetual reminder bf how Augustus
Caesar (Octavius) slipped up ON his uncle
Julius. He insisted ON having big
month named for himself also, and SO
pulled the whole calendar around SO as
to bring two thirty-one day months to-
gether in midsummer, as in midwinter,
at the same time changing the name
from Sextilis, or the Sixth (Which it then
was), to Augustus. Dog days" prevail
in this month, because the sun is in CAMS
Major, and Sirius rises about the same
time as the sun-at least so the ancients
thought-but it is now known that the
heliacal rising of Sirius is peculiarly in
determinate, and therefore every dog
now has his day.
September Is the month, ana the l4th
the particular day, on which the creation
of the world was completed, according
to the old rabbins. The Russian priests
added that man was created in this
month, because more fruit ripens in it
than in any other. That was when they
had no ideas of south latitude and had
never heard of the equator. In the
Roman calendar it was the seventh
month, and SO they named it from sep
tem-"seven."
October was the Romans eighth month
originally, and therefore named from
octo-"eight. In the old legends it
was set down as the month in which
Adam and Eve were expelled from para
disc.
This was ninth (novcm) month to the
Romans. 1t has long been a notable
month for signs and omens, as well as
religious dates, though no one can, show
why. The Saxons called it "blood
month" because they slaughtered cattle
and saltad ayay all their xxiufar'a hoaf