1. Month Names
Where do the month names come from?
Name Comes from Who or what? Why?
January Janus God of Doors This month opens the year.
This was a Roman month of sacrifices
February februo purify
and purification.
Start of year for soldiers (no fighting
March Mars God of War
during winter)
This is the month when trees open their
April aperire open
leaves.
Goddess of This is the month when plants really
May Maia
Growth start to grow.
Queen of the
June Juno
Gods
Julius
July Ruler of Rome He reorganised the calendar.
Caesar
He thought he was at least as important
August Augustus Ruler of Rome
as Julius Caesar!
September septem seven Seventh month (counting from March)
October octo eight Eighth month (counting from March)
November novem nine Ninth month (counting from March)
December decem ten Tenth month (counting from March)
When you look at September, October, November and December, it seems as if
the Romans couldn't count! But their year used to start in March. When Julius
Caesar reorganised the calendar and made it start in January, he kept the old
names, apart from one month, which he called after himself. Augustus came
after Julius Caesar and changed the name of another month.
The Romans had the same months as us. They had special names for the first
day in the month (the Kalends), the seventh day (the Nones) and the fifteenth
(the Ides). The Kalends belonged to Juno. The Ides belonged to Jupiter. They
did not have weeks like us