Michaelmas

Otherwise known as the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. This holiday was once an important festival on the calendar, relating to the harvest and the autumn. The traditional dish for the day was goose, ensuring a fruitful year.

St. Michael is the patron saint of police officers, soldiers, mariners, firefighters, EMTs, and others who put their lives in danger through their work. St. Michael medals are often popular in police departments and military barracks. He is known as one of the four angels who defended the Kingdom of God from Satan and the legions of the fallen. As in the icon to the right, he is usually portrayed as carrying a sword in order to accomplish his mission of defending the good. St. Michael also acts as guide to the souls of the deceased.

Purple asters with their yellow centers are also known as Michaelmas daisies as they grown around the date of Michaelmas.

In some British universities, the autumn term is known as the Michaelmas term.

The Abbot's Circle: The Story of Michaelmas 

National Trust for Scotland: Michaelmas Traditions

The Feast of St. Michael

Catholic Culture: Traditions of Michaelmas Day

Historic UK: Michaelmas 

Michaelmas

From the Historic UK website:

• Feast of Michael and All Angels.
  
• As it falls near the equinox, the day is associated with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days.
• In England, it is one of the “quarter days”. There are traditionally four “quarter days” in a year (Lady Day (25th March), Midsummer (24th June), Michaelmas (29th September) and Christmas (25th December)). They are spaced three months apart, on religious festivals, usually close to the solstices or equinoxes. They were the four dates on which servants were hired, rents due or leases begun.
• St Michael is one of the principal angelic warriors, protector against the dark of the night and the Archangel who fought against Satan and his evil angels. As Michaelmas is the time that the darker nights and colder days begin – the edge into winter – the celebration of Michaelmas is associated with encouraging protection during these dark months.
• A well fattened goose, fed on the stubble from the fields after the harvest, is eaten to protect against financial need in the family for the next year; and as the saying goes:

  “Eat a goose on Michaelmas Day,
  Want not for money all the year”. 

   

  More Michaelmas Links
  

  The Merry Foods of Michaelmas
  
  Richmond Waldorf School Michaelmas Page
  
  Michaelmas: Prayers, Food, and Flowers

  Project Britain: Michaelmas

  
  

Happy Michaelmas Day!

Michaelmas celebrates St. Michael the Archangel on one of the four "quarter days" in Great Britain, holy days which were associated with the paying of rent and renegotiating agreements. The angel Gabriel (who delivered the joyful news to Mary of the conception of Jesus) and the angel Raphael (also the angel Uriel in some versions) are also celebrated on this date. Michael is said to have personally defeated Lucifer in his war against heaven.

A legend associated with the holiday is that when St. Michael defeated Lucifer, described in Revelations 12, Lucifer landed on a blackberry bush. In rage, he spat on and cursed the bush. So you should pick and eat blackberries by Michaelmas, before the devil gets a chance to spit on them!

The traditional main course on Michaelmas Day is roast goose. So traditional, in fact, that old Irish name for the holiday was Fómhar no nGéanna, "goose harvest." Eating goose on this day is considered good luck.

In the northern hemisphere, because Michaelmas falls several days after the autumnal equinox, the holiday is associated with fall and marks the end of the harvest season, and the beginning of preparations for winter.

Pronounced, incidentally, "micklemas."   

Customs and Traditions Associated With Michaelmas Day

Michaelmas Foods and Traditions

British Michaelmas Traditions

Catholic Traditions of Michaelmas Day

St. Michael the Archangel

Michaelmas Day

from "Legendary Dartmoor"

The feast of St. Michael the Archangel. Goose is the traditional main course of the big meal of the day and should be eaten on Michaelmas to ensure prosperity for the coming year. In the past, the fall term at British universities and public schools began on or around Michaelmas Day, and the period until Christmas recess was called "Michaelmas Term." Oxford University and Cambridge University still call the fall period the Michaelmas term.

There is also a lovely purple flower called a Michaelmas daisy, a member of the aster family.

Michaelmas Day, from Chambers' Book of Days (1869)

Michaelmas, 29th September, at Historic.UK

About Michaelmas, at Carrots For Michaelmas Blog

Why Do We Celebrate Michaelmas? at City of Lakes Waldorf School Site

St. Michael's Day in Old Ireland, from Irish Culture and Customs Site

Michaelmas, at Lavender and Lovage Site (recipes)