‘From ancient texts I sing
the days and seasons,
And the star-signs that rise
and set, beneath the Earth.
I’ve reached the fourth
month, where you’re most honored,
And you know, Venus, both
month and poet are yours.’
The goddess, moved, touching
my brow lightly
With Cytherean myrtle, said:
‘Finish what you’ve begun.’
Ovid, Fasti, Book IV
“April – The fourth month of
the modern year, and the first month of spring… The name has been a subject of
considerable etymological guess-work.
It has been supposed to come for aperio, “I open,” as marking the time
when buds of trees and flowers begin to open. But, inasmuch as all the other months are named after
divinities or suppositious demigods, and as the Romans always looked upon April
as being under the peculiar tutelage of Venus, it seems not impossible that
Aprilis was originally Aphrilis, for Aphrodite, the Greek name of Venus.”
William Walsh, Curiosities of Popular
Customs (1898) p. 58
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Astronomy for April:
Full Pink Moon on the 25th. There will be a partial eclipse of the moon the
same night, which will be visible everywhere except North America.
[“Pink” has nothing to do with the color of the moon, unless you have
some interesting atmospheric conditions.
Pinks, a flower we know better as carnations, are said to start blooming
now. Their name comes from the
jagged edges of the petals, which looked as if they had been cut with pinking
scissors.]
Lyrid Meteor Shower, early
morning on the 22nd. The waxing moon will drown out much of it, but EarthSky says to watch after the moon sets. [Here the moon sets at 3:19 or thereabouts,
while dawn breaks at 4:12 (well before sunrise) so there will be about an hour
of chilly morning watching.]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
April is dedicated to The Blessed
Sacrament.
Liturgical Celebrations
The Octave of Easter, eight
days (inclusive) from Easter Sunday to the following Sunday.
First Friday
5 April
First Saturday
6 April
Divine Mercy Sunday
7 April (fist Sunday after Easter)
Annunciation
8 April (this year)
Novenas for March
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
April weather:
Rain and sunshine, both
together.
Weather for April:
Based on the 12 Days of
Christmas: Bright sunshine and
clear skies.
Based on the first 12 days
of January: Clear skies and very cold.
Based on the Ember
Days: Mostly sunny and warm.
[Looks like a little of everything.]
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Weather Lore for April
Rain in April will bring a
good May.
Betwixt April and May if
there be rain,
Tis worth more than oxen and
wain [wagon].
April showers bring milk and
meal.
April rains make large
sheaves.
In April, each drop counts
for a thousand.
If it rains in April, it
will rain incessantly in May.
April rains for men, May
rains for beasts (a wet April is good for
wheat and corn, a wet May is good for grass)
A wet April makes a dry
June.
A cold April will fill the
barn.
on the other hand
Warm April, great blessing.
Cold April gives bread and
wine [at least in France. In Spain,
however, "A cold April, much bread and little wine". I prefer a French April.]
A cold April brings much
fruit.
A cold and moist April fills
the cellar and fattens the cow.
Moist April, clear June,
Cloudy April, dewy May.
Fogs in April foretell a
failure of the wheat-crop next year [at
least in Alabama]
When April blows his horn,
it's good for both hay and corn.
or
April thunder indicates a
good hay and corn crop.
Thunder in April signifieth
that same year to be fruitful and merry (with the death of wicked men, says the
Book of Knowledge)
Thunderstorm in April is the
end of hoar-frost.
April wears a white hat [either frost or snow, especially at the
beginning of the month]
and
It is not April without a
frosty crown.
so
'Til April's dead, change
not a thread [don't put your winter
woolies away just yet]
Snow in April is manure.
4/1 – If it thunders on All
Fools' Day, it brings good crops of corn and hay [and we had thunder in the
Smallest State, presaging some very cold weather. The corn had better be good this year!]
If it rains on the first day
of April, there will be rain for fifteen successive days.
4/1-3 – If the first three
days are foggy, rain in June will make the lanes boggy.
As the weather is on the
first three days of April, so it will be for the next forty days.
4/3 – If St. Rosemund’s day
brings storm and wind,
Then will St. Sibylle’s day
(April 29) be mild.
4/7 – The first Sunday after
Easter settles the weather for the whole summer
4/14 – If it rains on Pastor
Sunday (second after Easter), it will rain every Sunday until Pentecost.
4/24 – If it rains on St.
Mark’s eve, there will be an abundance of figs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gardening for April:
April brings the primrose
sweet
Scatters daisies at our
feet.
The wine of April is the
wine of God
The wine of May is the wine
of lackeys.
4/23 – When on St. George
rye will hide a crow, a good harvest may be expected.
Mary’s Garden:
According to legend, when
Mary wept as she watched her Son carrying His Cross, a carnation grew where
each tear landed.
Against St. George, when
blue is worn,
The blue Harebells the
fields adorn,
Advice to the Gardener:
From the 1817 Almanac:
“With the Farmer and
Gardener this is the busiest Month in the whole Year; for now whatsoever you
have a mind to plant or sow, the Earth is fit to receive. Hoe your Carrots, Radishes, Onions,
&c. Set French Beans, plant
Asparagus, separate the Layers of Artichokes, and plant three of them in one
Hole. Plant Garden Beans,
Rouncival, and other large Pease to succeed other Crops. Plant Slips of Sage, Rude, Rosemary,
Lavender, &c. Sow all Sorts of
Sallad Herbs and Spinach in moist Places for the last time. Sow Turnips, and all Sorts of
Cabbage-Lettuce, and transplant Cos and Silesia Lettuces which were sown last
Month.
Cassell’s
Illustrated almanac 1871 for April.
Flowers.—Plant out wallflowers, stocks, sweet-williams, &e . Complete the
sowing of hardy annuals, and the half-hardy kinds may be sown towards the end
of the month. Look carefully over your roses after curled leaves, which will be
found to contain a grub that will prove destructive to the bloom if unmolested.
Vegetables.—Make a fresh sowing of beans and peas, for a succession of crops. Sow
Brussels sprouts rather thinly. Get in your main crop of celery, and of onions,
if not completed last month. Continue the sowing of lettuce, and water the
young plants constantly in dry weather. Plant slips of herbs in shady places.
Fruit.—Grafting and trimming operations may be completed early in the month.
The ground about gooseberry and currant trees should be frequently turned over
with the hoe, and the stems and young leaves should be watched for the
appearance of caterpillars. Clear away suckers from trees and bushes, digging
toward the root for that purpose if necessary.
Health
"It is now a good Time to Bleed
and take Physic; abstain from much Wine, or other strong Liquors; as they will
cause a ferment in your Blood, and ruin your Constitution."
===============================================================
Artwork:
April.
Limbourg frères. Grandes Heures of Jean,
Duc de Berry, Fifteenth century. [unfortunately,
the page got wet at some point]
The calendar pages of the Grandes Heures carried more religious
symbolism than that of the more famous Tres
Riches Heures. Each month was dedicated to a part of
the Apostles Creed, with the relevant prophecy from the Old Testament and
scripture from the New Testament.
April is dedicated to the article of the Creed which says “…He suffered
under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried…” Here we see (left
to right) Saint Paul instructing the Galatians (although the scripture “…for
although He was crucified through weakness…” comes from II Corinthians 13:4);
Our Lady stands above one of the gates of the New Jerusalem, holding a banner
with a depiction of the Crucified Christ; Taurus, the Bull, astrological symbol
of April, emerges from the gate; the sun has moved into the fourth of twelve
divisions in the arc of the sky; and below it, budding trees stand next to
well-grown grain.
Moses and Saint John the Evangelist Adore the Blessed Sacrament, from “The Hours of Catherine of Cleves” 15th century.
Moses holds a banderole
which references Deuteronomy 8.3: “He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee
manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to show that not
in bread alone does man live, but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of
God”. Saint John’s banderole comes
from Revelations 2:17: “…to him that overcomes, I will give the hidden manna…”
April.
Limbourg frères. Grandes Heures of Jean,
Duc de Berry, Fifteenth century.
Depicted at the bottom of
the calendar pages in the Grande Heures is the fulfillment of the Law and the
Prophets of the Old Testament by the articles of the Apostles Creed. In each, a prophet (cloaked to show the
obscurity of prophecy) takes a stone out of the building representing the Old
Law and offers it to an apostle, who, by raising the cloak ‘uncovers’ the
prophecy with an article of faith. Here the Prophet Zechariah pulls another
brick out of the edifice, whose towers are beginning to fall, and holds a
banderole which translates to “…and they shall look upon me (their God) whom
they have pierced…” (Zechariah 12:10). Saint John the Evangelist presents the relevant part
of the Apostle’s Creed, “…He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,
died, and was buried…”
April - Feasting. Engraving based on an 11th century manuscript. William
Walsh, Curiosities of Popular Customs
(1898) p. 58. Easter falls in
April (or very near in the last week of March), and after a month and a half of
scant Lenten fare, our ancestors were quite ready to spread the table with good
things and sit down to it with family and friends.
