Mythoblogia

A bit Anglo-centric and Western I know but I've always liked the history behind seemingly simple things like the calendar. Firstly there are some contradictions, like the 10th month is not December (my Latin is poor but I think decem is Latin for 10) as you'd expect, nor November (novem, or close thereto, is Latin for 9) the 9th, and of course the 8th month is not October (octo, Latin for 8) , either. That's the Julian Calendar at work, of course.

You'll see lots of Roman references here. The original Roman year was of course 10 named months, along the lines of Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis ("ie our July"), Sextilis (ie our "August"), September, October, November and December. Plus a gap in Winter when nothing was doing from an agricultural point of view, so they didn't bother naming that part - yet.

It was Numa Pompilius, by legend the 2nd king of Rome (circa 695 BC) who added Januarius and Februarius. He also moved the start of the year from Marius to Januarius and fiddled with the length of each month to fit it all in with the Earth's travels around the sun, and to ensure some odd numbered ends of months, considered to be lucky. Because Earth actually orbits in a year of 365 and a quarter days an additional month of Mercedonius or more usually Intercalaris (or intercalendar) was added every now and then to balance things, and always after Februarius. Now we have leap years of course, but still they are hitched to February.

Of course nothing stays the same forever. In around 46 BC Gaius Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar (which is why we call it the Julian calendar). He changed the number of days in several months, again, and this time removed Intercalaris.

So what are the other months, and why are they so named?

1. January, Latin Januarius, meaning of Janus. Two-faced Janus is the Roman god of gates, doorways, beginnings and endings. His festival month is January, natch.
2. February, Latin Februarius, meaning of Februltus or a righting of wrongs. It was Julius Caesar who gave us the leap year of 29 days every fourth year and 28 days otherwise. Nothing to do with Mount Olympus and the Greeks after all. Hmmm, must look up what the Greeks called Februarius, if they called it anything. BTW, Februa is the Roman festival of purification, held on February 15th.
3. March, Latin Martius, meaning of Mars. March was the original beginning of the year, and after a Winter layoff the time for the resumption of war. Mars is the Roman god of war and identified with the Greco/Roman god Ares. If you know your Astrology you'll recognise the sunsign Aries as the beginning of the year, and you'll also know Mars to be the ruling planet. It all fits, see?
4. April, Latin Aprilis from Etruscan Apru. In Greek it's Aphro, short for Aphrodite. Now that makes some sense. Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and beauty. She is also identified with the Roman goddess Venus.
5. May, Latin Maius, of Maia. I understand that Maia means grandmother, mother, nurse or 'the great one', so take your pick. Maia may also be equivalent to the old Italic goddess of spring, the daughter of Faunus or even Faunus herself.
6. June, Latin Junius, of Juno. Juno is a street (ok, a parade) in Sydney and I always wondered why. Anyway she is also a principal goddess of the Roman Pantheon, the goddess of marriage and the well-being of women; she is also the wife of Jupiter. She is roughly equivalent with the Greek goddess Hera.
7. July, Latin Julius, as in Julius Caesar. When you get to be Caesar of Rome you get your pick of months. Previously known as Quintilis (5th). Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar in 46 BC and as I said, took naming rights.
8. August, Latin Augustus, as in Augustus Caesar, Julius's successor. Previously known as Sextilis (6th). You can guess that Augustus was impressed with Julius's work, gave it a look over and stamped his name on it as well.
9. September, Latin septem, for seven. Well it was the 7th month at one stage.
10. October, Latin octo or eight. As I said...
11. November, Latin november, the ninth month. As before...
12. December, Latin december or the tenth month. No surprises here, if you've bothered to read all of the above, anyway.

Having said all of that, Julius and his advisers got it a bit wrong - the year was slightly long and the error was pushing important agricultural, fertility and religious dates back, bit by bit. They probably realised that the errors would add up but for whatever reason it was left. Until the leap year errors became too great and the Gregorian Calendar was introduced to fix it up. It was very largely based on the Julian in any case but conveniently (for Pope Gregory) managed to centre itself on the presumed birthdate of Christ.