The Month of April

I never gave the individual months much thought.

They were just always there, like the sun.

But I happened across a Wikipedia entry about April

that I found full of interesting little facts.

image: fromoldbooks.org 

For example: 

"April starts on the same day of the week as July in all years" 

and the same day of the week "as January in leap years."

And if that isn't impressive enough, consider that April and December 

both end on the same day of the week every year.

I had never noticed, so I decided to check this out.

Sure enough, both April 1st and July 1st this year fell on a Monday.

And last year they both fell on a Sunday.

photo, morguefile.com

The origin of the name April was also interesting.

The Wikipedia article gives a couple of possibilities.

The first is that the Latin name Aprilis 

is based on the verb derivation aperire, to open.

And that "Aprilis" was chosen for both the Julian and Gregorian calendars

because it denotes the few weeks when trees burst forth and flowers bloom.

photo of Venus, morguefile.com

The other theory is that April comes from the month of veneration for Venus,

whose Greek counterpart was Aphrodite. 

Therefore, the name Aphrilis was selected.

On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxons called the month Oster-monath

in recognition of the Goddess Oster, from whose name Easter is derived.

I"m glad we have a month when the leaves return and the flowers bloom,

and when the temperature warms.

And if we call that April, that's okay with me.

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