‘When it rains in August, it rains honey & wine,’ says one proverb, & who doesn’t like honey or wine? August symbolizes fulfillment, strength, abundance, harvest, transition, & peak solar energy, bridging the height of summer warmth with the early whispers of autumn. Originally the sixth month was called “Sextilis” (Latin for “sixth”); August was renamed to honor Augustus Caesar in 8 B.C. & became the eighth month with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1582.
August’s full moon, named the Sturgeon Moon by Native Americans, pays homage to giant lake sturgeon, once commonly found in the Great Lakes toward summer’s end. Also called the Full Grain Moon, this celebrates the coming harvest. Lammas, or Lughnasad, an ancient grain harvest festival, was celebrated by the ancient Celts at the end of July or early August. Lammas, Lammastide (August 1), or “loaf mass,” is one of four yearly pillars of Christian liturgy & lasted until the mid-1800s, though we still mark it today in the Simple Lifestyle Calendar.
August First Day was once a major 19th-century holiday for African Americans, commemorating the 1834 Slavery Abolition Act, which freed 800,000 enslaved people in British colonies. The holiday faded after the Civil War.
August birthdays include Davy Crockett, born on the 17th, 1786; in 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed August 19 National Aviation Day, in honor of Orville Wright’s birthday (Sorry, Wilbur). August 25 marks the birth of Muhammad in 570 C.E.; Mother Teresa was born on the 26th, 1910, Goethe on the 28th, 1749, & Mary Shelly on the 30th, 1797 – her story may be helpful as we parse the modern issues surrounding A.I.
Cat Nights, rooted in old Irish legend, starts on August 17, when a witch could turn into a cat eight times but not regain human form on the ninth day, which contributed to the idea that a cat has nine lives (duh!). Mid-August also marks the peak time to peep the Perseids, the year’s most popular meteor shower, featuring 50 to 100 meteors per hour. Watch in wonder as they light up the night sky with bright streaking tails & fireballs.
The word august (accented on the second syllable) is an adjective meaning inspiring reverence, majestic, or stately. It comes from the same Latin root meaning “revered” or “honored”. This is a perfect time to remember & honor the simple majesty of our & all lives.