October lore...

I imitate Mrs. Rudd of Widow's Weeds here...

The Anglo-Saxons called October Winterfylleth, a name which indicated that winter approached with the full moon of the month. In old almanacs the sport of hawking is adopted as emblematic of this which was accounted the last month of autumn." William Shepard Walsh, Curiosities of Popular Customs, p. 762 (1898).

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If in October you do marry
Love will come, but riches tarry.

Married when leaves in October thin,
Toil and hardships for you begin.

An October bride will be pretty, coquettish,
Loving but jealous.

 

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Weather lore of October (Northern Hemisphere): the more bright red berries (haws and hips) that can be seen in the hedgerows, the more frost and snow there will be the next Winter.

 

The second `Summer' in October is called Indian Summer in America, St Bridget's Summer in Sweden; in Italy, the Summer of St Teresa; in Germany and Switzerland, the Summer of St Gall. In England, it is called St Luke's Summer.

 

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A wind has blown the rain away

and blown the sky away

and all the leaves away,

and the trees stand. 

I think,

I too,

have known autumn too long. 

                        ~e.e. cummings

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The month of October is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Pray the Rosary every day.


Art:  October Landscape, Michael Workman