Have you ever thought about why all the famous months have such names? Hardly. We call them for granted, without even thinking about where they came from. In fact, our entire calendar dates back to the days of Ancient Rome, that is, thousands of years ago.
Even after the fall of the great empire, their calendar was still in use. Although some details have changed since then, our modern system of months is nothing more than a modification of that very ancient calendar. And that's how they all got the names we know.
January
The first month was named in honor of the god Janus. He was an important figure and was usually depicted with two faces that looked in opposite directions.
In addition, Janus was considered the god of doors, gates and all kinds of passages. That is why there is a lot of sense in the fact that it is he who personifies the transition from the outgoing year to the next.
It was the first day of the first month in ancient times that was the celebration of the worship of the god Janus. It was celebrated by exchanging honey, dates, figs and other sweets.
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February
The name of the second month of the year comes from the feast of purification. His goal was to get rid of all the evil spirits, which, as the Romans believed, simply swarmed their city. That is why, according to history, on the 15th day of the month there were ceremonies, sacrifices and ritual parades.
This festival was called Lupercalia. The Roman author Plutarch wrote that many young people that day ran around the city naked, hitting the hands of women and children who crowded the streets. It was believed to ward off evil spirits and help women get pregnant.
March
It was named after Mars. As even children know, he was the god of war. It is symbolic that in March the army began to prepare for military campaigns. During this period, it was more important than ever to praise the god of war. The entire month was filled with rituals and festivals designed to ensure success in offensives and sieges.
It is interesting that at first it was with this month that the Roman calendar was opened. There were ten of them then. However, to avoid confusion of dates, January and February were subsequently added. The first of them became the beginning of the year.
By the way, the Julian calendar (which appeared in the 1st century BC, after extensive reforms by Julius Caesar) is an improved modification of the Roman one. It is from him that our modern calendar originated.
April
The name comes from the word "aprillis". However, there are other theories on this score. One of the most popular is that the roots of the word must be found in the Latin "aperire", which means "to open". After all, April is the month when flowers start to bloom and spring comes into its own.
Others believe that April is named after the beautiful Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. After all, the Feast of Venus (the Roman equivalent of Aphrodite) was traditionally celebrated in April.
May
It is getting warmer, and the earth begins to bear its first fruits. So the fact that the month is named after the earth goddess Maya is very symbolic. She personified upbringing and abundance, therefore, she is as close as possible to this warm, abundant month.
But the Roman poet Ovid offered his own interpretation of the etymology of this word. He argued that the Latin "may" came from "maiores", which meant "elders," and is exactly the opposite of the word "june", which came from "iuniores" or "young people."
June
This name is associated with Juno, one of the most important divine figures in the Roman Pantheon. She was the wife of Jupiter and the goddess of weddings. Therefore, it is not surprising that the ancient Romans entered into weddings precisely at the end of June. But not earlier than the 15th - this was considered a bad sign.
July
It is easy to guess that this name was given to the month by Julius Caesar. Incidentally, it was the first month in the Roman calendar to be named after a real historical figure. And the great conqueror of Gaul is certainly worthy of this honor.
His reforms had a lasting impact on the calendar, which is why a whole month was named after Julius. Prior to this, July, as you remember, was the fifth, and not the seventh, and was called quintilis. However, after the death of Caesar in 44 BC. e. the month was renamed in his honor. July was also the birth month of the great military leader.
August
Octavian, Caesar's successor, Octavian, could not come to terms with such glory of his predecessor and decided to surpass him. That is why the next month was named after him.
After Octavian became the first emperor of Rome, he changed his name to Augustus, which translates as "consecrated" or "venerable."
Thus, August is named after this great Roman leader as part of Octavian's inspired self-propaganda strategy. Although many other Roman leaders subsequently tried to "insert" themselves into the calendar, none of them succeeded. To this day, Julius Caesar and Augustus remain the only historical prototypes after which the months are named.
September - December
All other names of the months in our calendar have a much more prosaic origin. September means "seven" and is derived from "septem". October - from "octo" (eight), November - from "novem" (nine), and December, respectively, from "decem", which means ten.
Diana Kudryavykh