August
July certainly did fly didn’t it? Did you do your best to receive from the month as well as give? Thinking of yourself as an earthling rather than a citizen may just change your perception toward caring for the planet in a more independent way. Remember fellow earthlings we are always at the edge of our perception. What direction will you step?
August here we are! Can ya please chill out a few degrees? Of course the weather doesn’t listen to humans and I suppose it never will, but it is nice to complain about the weather once and awhile even if it is amongst us. The big question for this month is will we have another thirty one days of scorching temperatures? HA! Some people do enjoy the heat while others make statements, as they wipe perspiration away with a handkerchief, like; “My, my it is hot!”
Let’s swing into the history of the eighth month, shall we? The source from www.infoplease.com/spot/history gives insight. “After Julius’s grand nephew Augustus defeated Marc Anthony and Cleopatra, and became emperor of Rome, the Roman Senate
decided that he too should have a month named after him. The month Sextillus (sex=six) was chosen for Augustus, and the senate justified its actions in the following resolution: ‘Whereas the Emperor Augustus Caesar, in the month of Sextillis . . . Thrice entered the city in triumph . . . And in the same month Egypt was brought under the authority of the Roman people, and in the same month an end was put to the civil wars; and whereas for these reasons the said month is, and has been, most fortunate to this empire, it is hereby decreed by the senate that the said month shall be called Augustus.’ Not only did the Senate name a month after Augustus, but it decided that since Julius’s month, July, had 31 days, Augustus’s month should equal it: under the Julian calendar, the months alternated evenly between 30 and 31 days, ( with the exception of February), which made August 30 days long. So, instead of August having a mere 30 days, it was lengthened to 31, preventing anyone from claiming that Emperor Augustus was saddled with an inferior month.”
The information from this source continues by stating; “Among Roman rulers, only Julius and Augustus permanently had months named after them--though this wasn’t for lack of trying on the part of later emperors. For a time, May was changed to Claudius and the infamous Nero instituted Neronius for April. But these changes were ephemeral, and only Julius and Augustus have had two-millennia-worth of staying power.”
The Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, by Robert Hendrickson has a more jaded angle on how August obtained its 31 days. “Augustus Caesar stole a day from February to give August thirty-one days simply because he did not want July, named after his great uncle and adopted father, to be longer than his own name month.”
Here is the rundown of highlights for the productive eight month courtesy of Veterans of Foreign Wars Calendar and The Old Farmers 2008 Almanac, by Robert Thomas.
August 1, 2008 brings a solar eclipse to Russia, Mongolia, and China.
August 4, 1790 US Coast Guard established.
August 4, 1977 President Carter signed bill to create U.S. Dept. of Energy.
August 5, 1884 Cornerstone for pedestal of Statue of Liberty laid.
August 6, 1945 U.S. dropped atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
August 7, 1782 Purple Heart medal established.
August 9, 1944 First Smokey the Bear poster produced.
August 14, 1945 Japan surrendered ending WWII.
August 16, 2008 Full Sturgeon moon.
August 21, 1911 the painting Mona Lisa was stolen.
August 21, 1959 Hawaii became the 50th state of the union.
August 22, 1831 Nat Turner’s slave rebellion began.
August 30, 1963 Hotline between White House and Kremlin installed.
Jerome Peterson is a freelance writer in Sonora, CA who also "dabbles in fiction and poetry."
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