How Did the Month of February Get Its Name

As the month best known for Valentine’s Day—a legendary saint beheaded for his religious convictions, not his passion for true love—February had close ties to ancient Rome. Apparently, the Roman king  Numa Pompilius  divided the year  into twelve months, while Ovid  suggests  the  decemviri  moved it  to the second month of the year.  Its nominal origins also hailed from the Eternal City, but where did February get its magical moniker? Ancient Rituals...or Purell? In 238 A.D., the grammarian Censorinus  composed his De die natali, or The Birthday Book,  in which he wrote about everything from calendric cycles to the basic chronology of the world. Censorinus clearly had a passion for time, so he delved into the origins of the months, as well. January was named for the double-headed god Janus, who looked into the past (the old year) and present-future (the new year), but its follow-up was called after â€Å"the old word februum,† writes Censorinus. What’s februum, you may ask? A means of ritual purification. Censorinus claims that â€Å"anything that consecrates or purifies is a februum,† while februamenta signifies rites of purification. Items can become purified, or februa, â€Å"in different ways in different rites.† The poet Ovid concurs on this origin, writing in his Fasti that â€Å"the fathers of Rome called purification februa; the word (and maybe the rite) was of Sabine origin, according to Varro’s On the Latin Language.  Purification was a big deal, as Ovid mockingly quotes, â€Å"Our ancestors believed every sin and cause of evil/Could be erased by rites of purification.† The sixth-century A.D. writer Johannes Lydius had a slightly different interpretation, stating, â€Å"The name of the month of February came from the goddess called Februa; and the Romans understood Februa as an overseer and purifier of things.† Johannes stated that Februus meant â€Å"the underground one† in Etruscan, and that deity was worshipped for fertility purposes. But this may have been an innovation specific to Johannes’s sources.   I Want to Go to the Festival So what cleansing ceremony occurred during the second thirty days of the New Year that was important enough to merit a month being named after it? There wasn’t one in particular; February had tons of cleansing rituals. Even St. Augustine got on this in The City of God when he says â€Å"†¦in the month of February ... the sacred purgation takes place, which they call februum, and from which the month get its name.†Ã‚   Pretty much anything could become a februum.  At that time, Ovid says the high priests would â€Å"ask the King [the rex sacrorum, a high-ranking priest] and the Flamen [Dialis]/for woollen cloths, called februa in the ancient tongue†; during this time, â€Å"houses are cleansed [with] the roasted grain and salt,† given to  the lictor, a bodyguard to an important Roman official. Another means of purification is given to a branch from a tree whose leaves were worn in a priestly crown. Ovid quips wryly, â€Å"In short anything used to purify our bodies/had that title [of februa] in the days of our hairy ancestors.† Even whips and woodland gods were purifiers! According to Ovid, the Lupercalia  features another kind of februum, something that was a little more SM.  It took place in mid-February  and celebrated the wild sylvan god Faunus (a.k.a.  Pan).  During the festival, nude priests called Luperci performed ritual purification by whipping spectators, which also promoted  fertility. As Plutarch writes in his Roman Questions, â€Å"this performance constitutes a rite of purification of the city,† and they struck â€Å"with a kind of leather thong they call februare, the word meaning ‘to purify.’† The Lupercalia, which Varro says â€Å"was called also Februatio, Festival of Purification,’†Ã‚  decontaminated the city of Rome itself. As Censorinus observes, â€Å"So the Lupercalia is more properly called Februatus, ‘purified, and therefore the month is called February.† February: Month of  the Dead? But February wasnt just a month of cleanliness! To be fair, though, purification and ghosts arent all that different. In order to create a cleansing ritual, one must sacrifice a ritual victim, whether flowers, food, or a bull. Originally, this was the last month of the year, dedicated to the ghosts of the deceased, thanks to its ancestor-worshipping festival of Parentalia. During that holiday, temple doors were  closed and sacrificial fires were doused to avoid malevolent influences influencing holy places. Johannes Lydius even theorizes the months name came from feber, or lamentation, because this was the time when people would mourn the departed. It was filled with rituals of propitiation and purification in order to placate angry ghosts from haunting the living during festival time, as well as to send them back whence they came after the New Year. February came after the dead went back to their spectral homes. As Ovid notes, this â€Å"time is pure, having placated the dead/When the days devoted to the departed are over.† Ovid mentions another festival called Terminalia and recalls, â€Å"February that follows was once last in the ancient year/And your worship, Terminus, closed the sacred rites.† Terminus was the perfect deity to celebrate at the end of the year since he reigned over boundaries.  At the end of the month was his holiday, celebrating the god of boundaries who, according to Ovid, â€Å"separates the fields with his sign and â€Å"set[s] bounds to peoples, cities, great kingdoms.† And establishing the boundaries between the living and dead, pure and impure, sounds like a great job!

Two Opposing Perspectives Of Islam - 2110 Words

Maria Salazar Mr. Thornton AP English 8 12 January 2015 Two Opposing Perspectives of Islam By definition, Islam is a religion of those who obey the doctrines of the Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad, who in the 7th century lived in Arabia, initiated a religious movement that throughout the Middle East was supported by the Arabs. Today, not only in Middle East origins, Islam has adherents, where it is the dominant religion in all countries (Non-Arab, and Arab), but also in other parts of Africa, Asia and, of course, as well as in the United States. Those who are loyal to Islam are called Muslims. The Sunni, Shiite conflict in Iraq started long before the ruling of Saddam Hussein, but when Hussein became Prime Minister of the country the conflict between the two religious sects was taken to a new level. Right when Hussein gained full power, under his control, began years of persecution of the Shiite Muslims in the country. But, before this happened, the conflict was based upon Muhammad and who was to rule after he had died. When Muhammad had died there were many disputes on who sho uld succeed the Prophet Muhammad after his death in 632. Shiites believed that the prophet’s son-in-law, Ali, was to be the successor. Both consider the Koran the word of God. But, devoutness and religious practice distinguish between the two sects. However, Islam teaches that all Islam is equal so Sunni and Shiite sects fight with each other not only because of â€Å"hatred† but, also because of religiousShow MoreRelatedThe Modern Age Of Islam1179 Words   |  5 Pagesreligion, with neither answer showing a complete, absolute advantage over the other. This is shown through Atta Turk completely removing Islam out of the newly formed Turkish society, the Baath Party’s secular ideology while still committing massacre, and Hezbollah using a radicalized form of religion to gain political strength. 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Did School Helped in Covering Up the Crime Free Essays

In my assessment of the facts, I believe that Eastern Michigan University did not intentionally covered-up the death of Laura Dickinson. Though the Clery Act requires schools to report any crimes and other threats to safety to students, it ignores such law because it lacked clear decision as to what to do with the incident (Goldman). Aside from that, it is beyond doubt that the school failed in initiating investigation on the incident. We will write a custom essay sample on Did School Helped in Covering Up the Crime or any similar topic only for you Order Now The tragic incident may also have distracted the school administrator as to what really happened to Laura until the body cannot be revealed to the students. Apart from that, the school may have feared that announcing the death of Laura may disturb their investigation and may create fear among students that they cannot control. The incident may have been perceived by the school as a threat to the peace within the school. Furthermore, the incident may have happened the first time and it is not prepared and lacked the proper guidelines in responding to such incident. It would also be unfair to conclude that the incident was covered- up because the school did not hid the body. If it was the school’s intention to cover-up the incident, it could have done anything that would disallow anyone from discovering it. Besides, the school made a statement after ten days. Thereafter, informed Laura’s parents after ten weeks. Ten weeks may be considered to be unreasonable for the school to finally decide in revealing the truth but it may be considered only as a negligence and indecisiveness on their part. The school may have feared losing its reputation once the incident is fully made known in public and may have been confused about the privacy of the people concerned. Aside from failing to report the incident, there are no other circumstances that would strongly determine that the school tried to hide the incident from the students and the public as well. Furthermore, the school may have been ignorant about the consequences of its act. Hence, the school did not intentionally covered-up the incident. How to cite Did School Helped in Covering Up the Crime, Papers

Women free essay sample

Granny writing to you to Inform you of how we did things In 1920. Things such as clothing, fashion and how It changed things for good. Hope things are going well with you, at the same time there were many things that I adopted to the change as well as others getting the fashion change. You will not believe how sexual activity and other social interaction changed as well; it has a lot to do with how you made it here to be my lovely DARPA.The magazines and movies played a very big part of shaping up things for us as ladies. Our clothing developed a closer relationship to art by the end of the First World War (the roaring sis). We simply would put together elegant designs with fabrics. We would coordinate outfits with hats, shoes, stockings, handbags and jewelry. That wouldnt look good in black and white photographs. The Dresses worn were shorter than the ones worn before 1920. Some women were there stocking more visible than others, they were being made with designs to match outfits as well.Now DARPA your granny wanted to be a part of the changes that were going on but your late great father would allow those types of changes under his roof. Some of the girls I would often hang out with truly didnt understand his reasoning, neither did l. The sexual activeness as well as other social interaction increased in the (1920), with the use of automobiles. There were young girls as young as 1 6 that would sneak out of the house climbing down from their bedroom window not trying to wake up their parents. In the cars there were couples that would be found by the police having sex.Keep in mind that in the cities this was hipping more so it grew rapidly. A term came about in which we call prostitution, this Is where a person would have sex In return for money. So with all that said In some states there was a law that was put In place for couples not to kiss In public. In some dance halls you couldnt even dance up close. There were people thrown in Jail for violating these laws. So for us being a woman was a complex balance between respect and freedom circumscribed our social and economic world. Women were cutting their hair into bob shaped, just fit in the era of the flapper.This emerged in 1926 to value the pushing lines of our sexuality. As you may know your grandfather my dad wasnt going for this look either It was a change that he TLD allow under his roof. Although my mother went ahead a cut my hair anyway it caused so much drama in our home. The neighbors thought I was a family member visiting and ask my father about me when he came home from work one evening and he told them he didnt know who they were talking about so he came inside and there I was sitting in the television. My father was so mad he made he my mother didnt talk for a week.That was the last time Id ever go behind his back again. All this happened for a reason later that year we were headed to a major changed we a ladles wanted to do a just as much as the males could do. We wanted to voted, by land and work just like he men did. So we came into a prohibition, this was approved by 36 states; the Amendment was signed on January 16, 1920. This was put into play to help protect women and children from alcoholism. There were people that believed that women were the mall cause of thing going this way. Women were drinking, hanging out with were married.A prohibition law was passed to help out America for many of these things. So the government decided to pass laws on (PDA). This soon fails so they came out with an Anti-prohibition law. This was for those people who were against the prohibition law. There were people that didnt think all these new changes that ere going on werent that bad. They even were thinking that drinking was a respectable thing to do in some cases. Some the ads that I remember are Black Jack gum (Good for the throat), Old North State Cigarettes, Edgerton. (http:// www. Youth. Com/watch? =Xenophobia) The roles that movies favored was pretty much for entrainment, leisure time it also showed new styles and was to live. The magazines played a major role of keeping up to date on the styles that were out, so they would be the first ones to wear in the public eye. Magazines also contain advertising products such as vacuums that would do twice the work, the ads would ell if you get this you want be bored. After finding out all this information these women were buying swimsuits, more beauty products and more shoes, in which sowed toes, strapless, and heals out. Most women would look forward to sportswear at a younger age along with radio broadcasting songs about womens needs and wants. The magazines contained pictures of clothes showing a little more than what we should show as the women are to be. Jazz was on the best role models for the sass it was the hottest thing from (1920-1923). The radios played Jazz music on the regular in 1926; artists such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Elongating, and Paul Godsons and your grandfathers favorite.This new music genre was not only recognized as a fashion but as entertainment. The largest change that I encountered was when Henry Ford Created the Automobile. It brought about a lot of Americans buying cars which leaded to the government having to build more roads and it caused Florida to cut into the glaciers which also brought about tsunamis. In the year of 1929 (Black Tuesday) the stock market crashed, and the countrys like for Jazz is over. But the stock market had little to do with the economy since very few people owned stocks and securities.It certainly help provoke help of the nations banking system, due to bank failures, there was a rash of personal bankruptcies and evictions. And since the banks were about to crash anyway but a large number of fames and workers were not able to buy goods that were needed as well as pay off loans that were overdue. So the UN-bought goods stayed on the shelves, causing numerous numbers of people to lose their Jobs. So with all that information I Just gave you my DARPA. I hope that you may have learned and be able to teach girls and women about being a lady. Love Granny!!!