The month of March, the third month of the year, was named for Mars, the Roman god of war. In the days of the Julian calendar, March included New Year’s Day. New Year’s was then March 25 and was the day on which annual leases for homes and farms were signed, a time schedule that has continued in many parts of the world, even though New Year’s Day was moved to January with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar.
It is called the “loud or stormy month” by the early Britons. It is the month of the vernal equinox, the official beginning of spring. The young people in the canton of the Grisons in Switzerland are among the first to respond to the season by wearing herdsmen’s costumes with wide belts from which are hung countless cowbells to “ring out the winter”.
March begins as the Constellation Leo is crossing toward the meridian. The symbol of Leo is the Lion. As Leo marches away, the Constellation Aries begins to rise toward the end of the month. The symbol of Aries is the ram – an intact male sheep! So, based on the stars, March “comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.”
The most popular holiday of the month is the seventeenth, St. Patrick’s Day. It is a major holiday in Ireland but is celebrated in New York City, too, with the “wearers of the green” of all nationalities joining in a spectacular Saint Patrick’s Day parade, a tradition that began in 1762.
The flowers for the month are the jonquil or daffodil…
and the birthstones are the bloodstone and the aquamarine.
…from Gregory, Ruth W. Anniversaries and Holidays, Third Edition;. Chicago: American Library Association, 1975.
March is :
- Irish American Month
- Music in Our Schools Month
- National Caffeine Awareness Month
- National Craft Month
- National Flour Month
- National Fresh Celery Month
- National Frozen Food Month
- National Irish American Heritage Month- designated by Congress in 1995.
- National Noodle Month
- National Nutrition Month
- National Peanut Month
- National Women’s History Month
- National Sauce Month
- Red Cross Month
- Social Workers Month
Canada and the United States start Daylight Saving Time on the second Sunday of the month. (In 2023 that will be on March 12th.) Clocks “spring” forward one hour.
March 1 is the anniversary of Ohio becoming the 17th state.
March 1 is also the anniversary of Nebraska becoming the 37th state.
March 3 is the anniversary of Florida becoming the 27th state.
March 4 is the anniversary of Vermont becoming the 14th state.
March 15 is the anniversary of Maine becoming the 23rd state.