Beware the Ides of March!

 

I couldn't resist. This day gives my literary soul a bigger shiver than most Friday the 13ths although I don't claim to be much of a superstitious person. Mostly it's just fun to notice--unless something bad does happen! Then we can blame it all on the calendar...

From The Old Farmer's Almanac:

The Ides of March has long been considered an ill-fated day. Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 B.C. Historians note that it is likely that a soothsayer named Spurinna had warned Caesar that danger would occur by the ides of March. William Shakespeare included the phrase "Beware the ides of March" in his play Julius Caesar.

The ides were the 15th days of four months (Martius, or March; Maius, or May; Quintilis, or July; and October) in the ancient Roman lunar calendar; they were the 13th in all other months (originally, Aprilis, or April; Iunius, or June; Sextilis, or August; September; November; and December. Ianuarius, or January, and Februarius, or February, were added later).

The word ides comes from the Latin word idus, which is possibly derived from an Etruscan word meaning "to divide." The ides were originally meant to mark the full Moon (the "halfway point" of a lunar month), but because the Roman calendar months and actual lunar months were of different lengths, they quickly got out of step. The ancient Romans considered the day after the calends (first of the month), nones (ninth day before the ides, inclusive), or ides of any month as unfavorable. These were called dies atri.

Movement to Make January National Folklore Month

I really dropped the ball on this one. Back in early December, Lise Lunge-Larsen emailed me about her forays into having January become National Folklore Month. Lise is a storyteller and author who also blogs at the Children's Literature Network at Snip, Snap, Snute. This past month she has been blogging specifically about folklore, including fairy tales and storytelling. Here is an edited version of her email:

Last spring I began blogging once a week about folktales for Children's Literature Network (http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/) an organization out of Minnesota that seeks to promote children's literature. I proposed last year that we should declare January National Folktale Month on order to promote more reading of folktales in the classroom and at home. After all poetry gets all of April to itself! During the month I will post a blog about various ways to incorporate folktales, fables and myths into the curriculum and everyday life. I am sure I will reference your blog and website a great deal and wondered if there was any way I could talk you into mentioning this on your site?

My blog is called "snipp, snapp, snute" after the traditional way to end a tale in Norway. I am after all, a native of that country.

As I said, I'm late to the party, but Lise's blog is excellent and I recommend giving it a looksy. I'm also predisposed to like people who work in folklore and children's literature, especially if they are Norwegian since I can claim a quarter of that myself through my grandfather who is 100%. Here are the posts she has shared this month:

And the Moral of the Story Is…



Telling the Tale



The Fairy Tale



Animal Adventures



Oodles of Noodles, or Noodlehead Stories



Cumulative Tales and more!



A Bag Full of Tricks



Pourquoi Tales, part deux!



Pourquoi Tales, part 1

Happy Folktale Month

And for good measure while we're here, here are some of Lise's books which I imagine look familiar to some of you: