Beware the Ides of March

OK, so I'm not usually this scientific, that would be my husband! But when my son texted me and asked, "when is Grandmother's birthday?" My reply was this, " the 15th is the Ides of March, the 16th is Grammies B-day, and the 17th is St. Pat's Day!" That is only way I remember!

Then I started thinking, Ides of March, what do I remember, other than Caesar's death? Well, good old Google to the rescue again!!

AMAELA WILEY, AOL RESEARCH has a wonderful article with fast facts, I'm going to borrow some and put them here for you!

1. Every month has Ides, and the 15th is not the only date. The Ides fall on the 15th of March, May, July and October. The Ides are on the 13th of the remaining months.

2. What are the Ides? The Ides come from the Roman calendar, which according to myth was created in ancient times by Romulus, the founder of Rome. The calendar focused on three days that became a reference for all the others. Kalends (the first day of the month), Nones (the seventh or fifth day of the month) and Ides (the 15th or 13th day of the month). The Kalends marked the sighting of the new moon, the Nones the quarter moon, and the Ides the full moon. (Caesar instituted the Julian calendar in 46 B.C., but kept the system of Kalends, Nones and Ides.)

3. Calculating the date using the Roman calendar was complicated, and probably the reason the calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar most of the world uses today. If you want to say the date using the ancient vernacular, you'd have to say, for example, today, March 15, is the Ides of March; March 16 would be XV Kalends April, or 15 days before April 1. Make sense? If not, join the rest of us and be glad we upgraded to something simpler. (Only the Eastern Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar.)

Have a good Ides~

Cozyflier