MM Links April 2012 Week 3
Hello again. Here is Week 3's Challenge from Regal Roslyn
I shall be brief this week ( “Hooray”, I hear you all shout!!) as daughter is quite ill and I am required to go round to her house and look after her & do some housework for her.
We are now well into April, the fourth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars and also well known for its "showers". But where does the month's name originate from? The derivation of the name (Latin Aprilis ) is uncertain. The traditional etymology is from the Latin aperire, "to open", in allusion to its being the season when trees and flowers begin to "open". This would seem to be supported by comparison with the modern Greek use of anoixos (opening) for Spring. However since some of the Roman months were named in honour of divinities , and as April was sacred to the goddess Venus, it has been suggested that Aprilis was originally her month that is..... Aphrilis, from her equivalent Greek goddess name Aphrodite (Aphros).
Apart from All Fools Day on April 1st, the month contains another notable date.... St. George's Day, which falls on 23rd (also the birthday & date of death of Shakespeare). But the English do not have a monopoly on St. George. Celebrations for St. George's Day also occur in regions of Bulgaria, Canada, Catalonia, Croatia, Portugal, Cyprus, Greece, Georgia, Serbia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Macedonia. The cities of Moscow, Genoa, Ljubljana, Beirut, Qormi, and Victoria in Malta also hold celebrations on the day. St. George seems to be in popular demand, but who was he?
The earliest mention of St George in England comes from the Venerable Bede c. 673 - 735). He is also said to be mentioned in the will of Alfred the Great and a stone over the door of a church in Dorset records the miraculous appearance of St George to lead crusaders into battle. In 1222 the Synod of Oxford declared St George's Day a feast day in the kingdom of England. George is also the patron saint of scouting. On the Sunday nearest to 23rd scouts and guides throughout England parade through the streets and attend a special St George's Day service at their local church. The well known image of St George on horseback slaying the dragon was used as the badge of the Order of the Garter (founded by Edward III in the 1300's).