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This blog is being published on Saturday, October 5, 2024 to align with #HistoryWritersDay24, a celebration of history writers, publishers and bloggers – both non-fiction and fiction.
Happy fall, y’all! The autumn season officially started two weeks ago, though with temps consistently popping in and out of the mid-80s here in Minnesota, it hasn’t quite felt like it. Yet despite the heat, we’ve come to the official end of summer.
In the U.S., these first weeks of fall might not seem terribly eventful, aside from homecoming football games, hayrides and apple picking excursions. In Plantagenet England, however, the early autumn season shepherded in an important date on the religious and civic calendars: the 29th of September, or the feast of Michaelmas.
Michaelmas (pronounced “mickel-mas”) is a feast day in the western Christian church honoring St. Michael the Archangel, that foremost of angels who commands the heavenly armies and defeated Satan, tossing him and his followers out of Heaven as pictured in the statue below. The tradition dates back to the 5th century A.D., when a chapel was dedicated to the saint in Gargano, Italy, and vestiges of this celebration persist even into our modern-day culture. Once called “St. Michael’s mass,” the name of the observation became truncated as “Michaelmas” over time, just as Christmas was once known as “Christ’s mass.” Some Christian traditions have included other heavenly beings in the same feast day, celebrating specific archangels such as St. Raphael or “all angels” at the same time.
As with all the best holidays, Michaelmas was celebrated with a feast. Falling as it did at the end of the harvest, the Michaelmas banquet table was loaded with the many bounties of the season, but the main star of the culinary show was the goose. Having been fattened on the leftover grain in the fields after the harvest was complete, the goose was a symbol of prosperity, and it was even said that eating a goose on Michaelmas prevented financial hardship in the coming year! All in all, folks were surely glad of the opportunity to take a break from their labors in the field, gather with friends and neighbors as the days shortened, and enjoy the fruits of their hard work.
The period of English history we now refer to as the Plantagenet era (strictly for ease of use, despite its many problematic aspects) fell toward the end of the Middle Ages, at a time when Michaelmas commemorations had grown beyond being a Catholic “Day of Observation” – or as we might say in today’s parlance: a “Get Your Behind To Church (Or Else) Day.” (Mostly joking, of course, but making sure you went to church on these extra-important days was a Big Deal.) The 29th of September had become an important date on the socio-economic and political calendars as well. In a society dominated by the seasons and celebrations of the Church, it made sense to align secular obligations and timetables with the ecclesiastical calendar already familiar to nearly all members of society. As a result, Michaelmas became one of four “quarter days” that divided the year into fourths and signified the beginnings & endings of contracts, employment terms, and educational sessions. Debts and legal proceedings were to be resolved in time to be publicly recorded on the quarter day, serving the public interest by preventing disputes from running on indefinitely.
In England and Wales, the quarter days were established in line with the solstices and equinoxes and have generally been observed as Lady Day (March 25), Midsummer (6/24), Michaelmas (9/29) and Christmas (12/25) since at least the Middle Ages. In other parts of the British Isles, a similar quarter day system was also utilized, but the quarter dates themselves were tied instead to the old Celtic calendar. Before its Christianization in the 5th century, Ireland observed the Celtic festivals of Imbolc (2/1), Beltane (5/1), Lughnasadh (8/1) and Samhain (11/1). Scotland and parts of northern England had their own set of quarter days, marked by Christian festivals that fell halfway between the solstices and equinoxes and close to the traditional Celtic dates: Candlemas (2/2), Whitsunday (traditionally the 7th Sunday after Easter, later set by law as 5/15), Lammas (8/1) and Martinmas (11/11).
All this is a quaint slice of history – and maybe a nice bit of trivia to tuck away for the next pub quiz – but irrelevant to our modern life, right? Well, perhaps not; the quarter days system isn’t quite as obsolete and antiquated as we might think.
Michaelmas in the Modern
First, the idea of neatly dividing the year into quarters is still prevalent in both England and the United States. Though the dates of the calendar and fiscal years have shifted away from the traditional quarter days, most residents of both countries are likely familiar with quarterly financial accounting practices as used by businesses, organizations and government agencies. We use these convenient markers as opportunities to evaluate past performance, review future goals and chart course corrections as needed, and we acknowledge the importance of tying up loose ends more frequently than once a year.
Second, many American and British academic institutions still begin their school years with fall terms, following the centuries-old traditions of farming communities to start school after the majority of the harvest was in (aligning with St. Michael’s feast day) and the students’ help was no longer needed to wrap up their families’ summer agricultural work. Students of all ages in the U.S. are used to dividing their school years into two semesters, or perhaps four quarters, with the new school year usually beginning in August or September.
Yearly terms for primary and secondary students in the United Kingdom and Ireland run along similar timeframes, though they are often divided into three terms with breaks in between. Most universities in the U.K. begin their academic years in late September or early October, and each subdivided period is referred to as a semester or a term. Some of the oldest and most distinguished universities still retain the traditional nomenclature and begin their academic years with a Michaelmas term. The University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and Trinity College, Dublin are examples of this continuing practice.
Finally, law courts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland begin their legal years with a Michaelmas term, which has been accompanied by a number of ceremonial activities throughout history. The United States Supreme Court also begins its legal year on the first Monday in October, though it is referred to simply as the October Term. While not directly related to St. Michael or his feast day, another religious tradition grew up in conjunction with the start of legal terms across Europe and is continued in some Christian communities worldwide today: the Red Mass.
The Red Mass is a Catholic mass traditionally celebrated annually at the start of the legal year to request, in short, heavenly guidance for all those involved with the administration of justice. It has a long, if interrupted, history dating back to the first recorded event at the Cathedral of Paris in 1245, after which it increased in popularity across Europe. It came to England around six decades later, during the reign of Edward II. Readers with any familiarity with the intense and sometimes violent struggles between Catholics and Protestants over the centuries, however, will be unsurprised to hear that there does not seem to be any recorded continuous celebration of the Red Mass extending back to the Middle Ages. Presumably, it went underground along with other Catholic practices during times of danger, then resurfaced again when it was perceived safe to bring it forward once more.
Today, following a resurgence of Catholicism in the 20th century, the Red Mass is observed in many countries around the world to . In London, the annual service takes place at Westminster Cathedral. In Washington, D.C., where the U. S. Supreme Court sits, the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle is celebrating the 72nd annual Red Mass on Sunday, October 6, 2024.
So there it is: a quick history highlighting the traditions of Michaelmas, an observation stretching back over a millennium while still peeking into our modern lives today. If you want to learn more, check out the sources and suggested reading below!
Sources and Suggested Reading
https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/st-michaels-day-and-michaelmas-traditions
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_of_Monte_Sant%27Angelo
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaelmas
https://theabbotscircle.com/post/the-story-of-michaelmas
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Michaelmas
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0927/1078446-september-29th-michaelmas-ireland
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Quarter-Day
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaelmas_term
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_term
https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/procedures.aspx
https://www.johncarrollsociety.org/membership/the-red-mass
https://web.archive.org/web/20130407032833/http://www.johncarrollsociety.org/about-jcs/index.aspx
https://www.stmatthewscathedral.org/events/15430/72nd-annual-red-mass
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Mass