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12 Months
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Look
how the 12 Months of the year got their names. Each has an interesting story
to tell.
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January
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Febryary
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March
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April
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| The Roman god Janus who has two faces, one looking forward and the other looking back, is the god the month of January is anmed after. This makes a lot of sense because the month marks the end of the last year and looks forward to the begining of a new one. | In ancient Rome there was a festival in which young men would use leather strips called Februa, and as a ritual, lightly hit women who couldn't have children. The women it is said were blessed with children soon after that. This may be regarded as one source through which February got its name. The other possibility is that the month is named after Februaria who was the goddess that blessed women with children, and the monthin which the februaritual took place came to be named after her. | Dedicated to Mars the god of war this was the month with which the Roman new year began long before the time of Julius Caesar. | Named after the Latin word Aperio, which means 'open', the name April was thought appropriate because this was the time when the first flowers bloomed in ancient Italy. |
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May
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June
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July
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August
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| Many believe that it is named after Maia the mother of god Hermes. This month was supposed to be a time for romance but not lucky for marriages. | There could be two origins to this word. One, that it is named after family - Junius from where the murderers of Julius Caesar came. Or from the goddess Juno who is said to be the guardian of women as this was the time when unlike May, a lot of marriages took place. | To commemorate the birth of Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony proposed that the month be named after him. The name came into official use in the Roman calendar the year Caesar was assassinated. | Octavian, Julius Caesar's nephew was given the title of Augustus by the Roman senate in reward for his services to the empire, and when he become Emperor, he proclaimed that the month in which he was born would be called after histitle and that's how August got its name. |
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September
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October
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November
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December
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| In the times when the Roman year started with the month of March the seventh month got it's name from the Latin word Septem which meant seven. Though the calendar has been revised since then, September continues with its old name. | Following the Roman tradition, the month was named after the Latin word Octo to mean the eighth month. That's how October got its name. | Like the earlier two months get their name from the Latin numbers nine and ten. There were a lot of efforts by the Roman emperors to change the names after themselves but it didn't materialise and that's how the names of the months stayed the way we know them now. | Like the earlier two months get their name from the Latin numbers nine and ten. There were a lot of efforts by the Roman emperors to change the names after themselves but it didn't materialise and that's how the names of the months stayed the way we know them now. |
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