March

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This article is about the month. For other uses, see March (disambiguation).
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2016

March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is one of seven months that are 31 days long. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20th or 21st marks the astronomical beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, where September is the seasonal equivalent of the Northern Hemisphere's March.

Origin[edit]

March, from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, a book of prayers to be said at canonical hours

The name of March comes from Latin Martius, the first month of the earliest Roman calendar. It was named for Mars, the Roman god of war who was also regarded as a guardian of agriculture and an ancestor of the Roman people through his sons Romulus and Remus. His month Martius was the beginning of the season for both farming and warfare,[1] and the festivals held in his honor during the month were mirrored by others in October, when the season for these activities came to a close.[2] Martius remained the first month of the Roman calendar year perhaps as late as 153 BC,[3] and several religious observances in the first half of the month were originally new year's celebrations.[4] Even in late antiquity, Roman mosaics picturing the months sometimes still placed March first.[5]

March 1 began the numbered year in Russia until the end of the 15th century. Great Britain and its colonies continued to use March 25 until 1752, when they finally adopted the Gregorian calendar (the fiscal year in the UK continues to begin on the 6th April, initially identical to 25 March in the former Julian calendar). Many other cultures and religions still celebrate the beginning of the New Year in March.

March is the first month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere (North America, Europe, Asia and part of Africa) and the first month of fall or autumn in the Southern Hemisphere (South America, part of Africa, and Oceania).

Other names[edit]

In Finnish, the month is called maaliskuu, which is believed to originate from maallinen kuu, during March, earth finally becomes visible under the snow (other etymological theories have however been put forward). In Ukrainian, the month is called березень/berezenʹ, meaning birch tree, and březen in Czech. Historical names for March include the Saxon Lentmonat, named after the March equinox and gradual lengthening of days, and the eventual namesake of Lent. Saxons also called March Rhed-monat or Hreth-monath (deriving from their goddess Rhedam/Hreth), and Angles called it Hyld-monath. In Slovene, the traditional name is sušec, meaning the month when the earth becomes dry enough so that it is possible to cultivate it. The name was first written in 1466 in the Škofja Loka manuscript. Other names were used too, for example brezen and breznik, "the month of birches".[6] The Turkish word Mart is given after the name of Mars the god.

March symbols[edit]

The Daffodil, the floral emblem of March

March observances[edit]

This list does not necessarily imply either official status nor general observance.

Month-long observances[edit]

United States[edit]

Non-Gregorian observances, 2016[edit]

Movable observances - 2016[edit]

School day closest to March 2 - March 2[edit]

First Wednesday - March 2[edit]

First Sunday - March 6[edit]

Second week -March 6–12[edit]

First Monday - March 7[edit]

Week of March 8: March 6–12[edit]

Second Wednesday - March 9[edit]

Second Thursday - March 10[edit]

Third week in March - 13-17[edit]

Second Monday - March 14[edit]

Third Wednesday - March 16[edit]

Friday of the second full week of March - March 18[edit]

March equinox - March 20[edit]

Third Monday - March 21[edit]

Fourth Tuesday - March 22[edit]

Fourth Saturday - March 26[edit]

Fourth Monday - March 28[edit]

Last Monday - March 28[edit]

Movable Western Christian Observances - 2016[edit]

Holy Week[edit]
Easter Week[edit]

Movable Eastern Christian Observances, 2016 dates[edit]

Fixed observances[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Mary Beard, John North, and Simon Price, Religions of Rome (Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 47–48 and 53.
  2. ^ Michael Lipka, Roman Gods: A Conceptual Approach (Brill, 2009), p. 37. The views of Georg Wissowa on the festivals of Mars framing the military campaigning season are summarized by C. Bennett Pascal, "October Horse," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 85 (1981), p. 264, with bibliography.
  3. ^ H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), p. 84; Gary Forsythe, Time in Roman Religion: One Thousand Years of Religious History (Routledge, 2012), p. 14 (on the uncertainty of when the change occurred).
  4. ^ Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, p. 85ff.
  5. ^ Aïcha Ben Abed, Tunisian Mosaics: Treasures from Roman Africa (Getty Publications, 2006), p. 113.
  6. ^ "Koledar prireditev v letu 2007 in druge informacije občine Dobrova–Polhov Gradec" [The Calendar of Events and Other Information of the Municipality of Dobrova–Polhov Gradec] (PDF) (in Slovenian). Municipality of Dobrova-Polhov Gradec. 2006. 
  7. ^ "March Birth Flower : Flower Meaning". 
  8. ^ http://ucp.org/tag/national-cerebral-palsy-awareness-month/
  9. ^ "2015 Baha'i Holidays". 
  10. ^ a b c "2015 Hellenion Calendar". 
  11. ^ a b c d e https://badipublishing.com/index.php/holy-days-2016/
  12. ^ http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_2_1.jsp?cid=697232
  13. ^ http://calendar.zoznam.sk/persian_calendar-en.php
  14. ^ a b http://www.hellenion.org/calendar/2016/2016HellenionCalendar.html
  15. ^ http://www.drikpanchang.com/festivals/month/festivals-march.html?year=2016

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: March
Look up March in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to March.
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