february was called solmonath by the anglo-saxons, which means mud month.
february was called solmonath by the anglo-saxons, which means mud month.
february was called solmonath by the anglo-saxons. what does this mean?
mud month
historical names for february include the old english terms solmonath (mud month) and kale-monath (named for cabbage) as well as charlemagne's designation hornung. in finnish, the month is called "helmikuu", meaning "month of the pearl"; when snow melts on tree branches, it forms droplets, and as these freeze again, they are like pearls of ice. in polish and ukrainian, respectively, the month is called "luty" or "лютий", meaning the month of ice or hard frost. in macedonian the month is "sechko" (сечко), meaning month of cutting [wood]. in czech, it is called "únor", meaning month of submerging [of river ice].
february
early saxon religious practices in britain can be gleaned from place names and the germanic calendar in use at that time. the germanic gods woden, frigg, tiw and thunor, who are attested to in every germanic tradition, were worshipped in wessex, sussex and essex. they are the only ones directly attested to, though the names of the third and fourth months (march and april) of the old english calendar bear the names "hrethmonath" and "eosturmonath", meaning "month of hretha" and "month of ēostre." it is presumed that these are the names of two goddesses who were worshipped around that season. the saxons offered cakes to their gods in february ("solmonath"). there was a religious festival associated with the harvest, "halegmonath" ("holy month" or "month of offerings", september). the saxon calendar began on 25 december, and the months of december and january were called yule (or "giuli"). they contained a "modra niht" or "night of the mothers", another religious festival of unknown content.
saxons