The eighth was August, being
rich array’d
In garment all of gold down
to the ground;
Yet rode he not, but led a
lovely maid
Forth by the lily hand, the
which was crown’d
With ears of corn, and full
her hand was found.
That was the righteous
Virgin, which of old
Liv’d here on earth, and
plenty made abound;
But after wrong was lov’d,
and justice sold,
She left th’ unrighteous
world, and was to heav’n extoll’d.
Spenser
“In the old Roman calendar,
August bore the name of Sextilis, as
the sixth month of the series, and consisted but of twenty-nine days.
Julius Caesar, in reforming the calendar of his nation, extended it to thirty
days. When, not long after, Augustus conferred on it his own name, he
took a day from February, and added it to August, which has consequently ever
since consisted of thirty-one days. This great ruler was born in
September, and it might have been expected that he would take that month under
his patronage; but a number of lucky things had happened to him in August,
which, moreover, stood next to the month of his illustrious predecessor, Julius;
so he preferred Sextilis as the month which should be honoured by bearing his
name, and August it has ever since been among all nations deriving their
civilization from the Romans.”
Robert Chambers, The Book of Days, (1832), Volume II, p. 253.
A glorious month! It
is also the Widow's birth month.
Skillful people are born in
August, says the old adage.
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August - the noblest, the most happy and generous division of the year...
Astronomy for August
The full moon this month -
on the 1st - is known as the Sturgeon Moon or the Corn Moon. We will also be treated to a Blue Moon on the 31st,
which the Old Farmer’s Almanac calls the “Full
Red Moon”, and others call the Fruit Moon or the Corn Moon or that bright thing
which makes sky watching so difficult.
Meteor Shower – The Perseid meteor shower (St. Lawrence’s Tears) is slated to peak
in the predawn hours of the 11th and 12th. This should be a better year
for viewing the spectacular shower than last year, as the moon will be
waning.
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Weather for August
Based on the 12 Days of
Christmas: Mostly sunny and warm.
Based on the first 12 days
of January: Sunny and warm, gorgeous.
Based on the Ember Days: Sunny, cool, glorious weather!
Weather Lore for August
Dry August and warm
Doth harvest no harm.
August rain gives honey,
wine, and saffron. [Sounds good!
Saffron-honeycakes and a glass of wine.]
August sunshine and bright
nights ripen the grapes. [Even better!]
Rain early in August
refreshes the trees.
and
A wet August never brings
dearth.
however
There will be as many snows
in the following winter as there are rains in August.
The same goes for the number
of foggy mornings.
Rain on St. Lawrence is late
but good
(August 10)
Rain on Assumption is also
late but good
(August 15)
But if St. Bartholomew
rains, slap him! (August 24)
[once the harvest begins, we need dry weather. A late rain can mildew the plants in both field and barn]
A north-wind in August
brings settled weather.
So many August fogs, so many
winter mists.
Observe on what day in
August the first heavy fog occurs, and expect a hard frost on the same day in
October.
A fog in August indicates a
severe winter and plenty of snow.
As August, so the next
February. [I don't want to think
about next February. It comes soon enough.]
If the first week in August
is unusually warm, the winter will be white and long. Describe 'unusually'. For that matter,
describe 'white and long'. Up here, all winters are white and long.
Sometimes there is more 'white' one year than the next; nevertheless, winter
starts somewhere in October and lasts through May, no matter how much white has
fallen.
August thunder indications
do not come alone: one thunderstorm will follow another.
If the wind has been south
for two or three days, and it grows very hot, and you see clouds rise with
great white tops, like towers, as if one were upon the top of another, and
joined together with black on the nether side, there will be thunder and rain
suddenly.
If two such clouds arise,
one on either hand, it is time to make haste to shelter.
An old Albanian tradition
said that the first twelve days of August foretell the weather of the
succeeding twelve months.
8/1 - If geese and ducks run
around with straw in their beaks today, there will be destructive storms in
late summer, and autumn will be very boisterous.
8/6 - As the weather is on
Transfiguration, so it will be the rest of the year. [Which I take to mean either settled or unsettled weather, as in, if the
day is fine, then winter will not be hard, and autumn, spring, and summer will
be equable, but if the day is stormy, then we can expect hard weather
conditions throughout the year.]
8/10 - If on Saint
Lawrence's Day the weather be fine, fair autumn and good wine may be hoped for.
If it is fine on St. Laurence’s day and the day of the Assumption, there
will be a good vintage.
8/11 - As the Dog Days
commence, so they end.
8/15 - On Saint Mary's
Day, sunshine brings much good wine. Which
is especially enjoyed in my backyard on a lazy August afternoon.
If the sun shines on Mary's day, that is a good token, and especially for wind.
8/19 - If it rains on Saint
Louis' day, it will rain for eight days.
8/24 - As Bartholomew's Day,
so the whole autumn.
If Bartelmy's day be fair and clear,
Hope for a prosperous autumn that year.
Saint Bartholomew's mantle wipes dry
All the tears that Saint Swithin can cry.
Saint Bartholomew brings the cold dew.
If it rains on Bartholomew's Day, it will rain the forty days after.
Thunderstorms after Bartholomew's Day are more violent.
If the morning begins with a hoar frost, the cold weather can be
soon expected, and a hard winter.
8/26 - Tradition says that
it always rains today.
The last Sunday of
the month indicates the weather for the next month.
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Farming and Gardening: "August brings the sheaves of corn; then the harvest
home is borne."
August fills the kitchen,
and September the cellar.
“Till Lammas Day, called
August's Wheel, (Aug 1)
When the long Corn stinks of
Chamomile.
When Mary left us here before,
(Aug 15)
The Virgin's Bower begins to
blow;
And yet anon the full
Sunflower blew,
And became a Star for
Bartholomew.”
(Aug 29)
8/1 - traditionally, cabbage
seed was sowed on the first Wednesday after the 29th of July.
8/10 - Saint Lawrence's day
puts the sickle to the wheat.
Plant spring flowering
bulbs, like daffodils, or dig up, separate, and replant the bulbs in your
garden after the second week in August.
8/15 – The Holy Queen of
Heaven gives us the first nuts.
8/19 - Sow turnip seeds on
Saint Sebald's day.
Cassell’s
Illustrated almanac 1871 for August:
Flowers.—Tie
up dahlias, watch for caterpillars, and entrap earwigs by placing on the
dahlia-stick a small flower-pot with a little hay in the bottom; or it answers
the same purpose to place short lengths of hollow straw or bean-stalks about
the plants, and gather them up every morning. In the beginning of the month
carnations and picotees may still be layered, and the better kinds should be
shifted into pots as soon as they have rooted, that they may be the more
readily protected from frosts. Plant out biennial stocks where they are intended
to flower.
Vegetables.— Continue
the earthing up of celery; bend down the necks of onions; and sow lettuce and
spinach for the winter. Also prepare your bed for sowing cabbage for spring and
summer supply. Hoe frequently between young plants of Brussels sprouts, Savoys,
etc.
Fruit.— Continue
to remove weak and straggling offsets of vines, and thin out the smaller
berries from your bunches of grapes, which will increase the size of the
remaining fruit. Protect your ripening plums from insects by hanging decoy
bottles of sugar or treacle from the walls.
August, in my 1817 almanac,
is a tremendously busy time in the garden:
“Sow Cauliflowers, Spinach, Onions, Cabbages, Coleworts, Lettuce,
Cresses, Chervil, and Corn Sallad, for Winter Use. Transplant Broccoli
into the Ground, where it is to remain for flowering. Plant Slips of
Savory, Thyme, Sage, Hyssop, Rosemary, Lavender, Mastick, and other aromatic
Plants. Continue to sow Rape, Radish, Mustard, Cresses, and Turnipseed
every Week; they will now soon grow large enough to use.”
Health Advice for July: “This Month use
moderate Diet, forbear to sleep soon after Meat, for that brings Oppilations,
Head-achs, Agues, and Catarrhs, and other Distempers of the same Kind.
Take great Care of sudden Cold after Heat.”
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ARTWORK
August.
Engraving by Samuel Williams. William Hone, The
Everyday Book and Table Book, (1838), p. 1058
August – Harvesting. Engraving based on an 11th century manuscript. William
Walsh, Curiosities of Popular Customs
(1898), p. 77
