March.......Weather

A March  page from An Illustrated Country Year by Celia Lewis

 Wonder if the lovely weather here in the UK at the end of February might have lulled us into a false sense of security...........because I found this in Chambers Book of Days......

  In the Roman calendar March,or Martius, was the first month of a new year. The month was named after Mars, the god of war and the guardian of agriculture. March was the month when both farming and warfare could begin again after winter.

The Saxons called it Lentmonat, or lengthening month, because of the equinox and lengthening of days and this is the origin of the word Lent.

There are many weather sayings,  the best known is

March winds and April showers

Bring forth May flowers.

Also.....................March month of many weathers

Dry days are precious to get seeds sown.................A peck of dust in March is worth a king's ransom

And on the same theme.................A dry March never begs it's bread

William Wordsworth also wrote about weather in March in his poem " To my sister"

It is the first mild day of March:

Each minute sweeter than before,

The redbreast sings from the tall larch

That stands beside our door.

There is a blessing in the air,

Which seems a sense of joy to yield

To the bare trees, and mountains bare,

And grass in the green field.

There's no getting away from the fact that through history we've always liked talking about the weather.

Back Tomorrow
Sue