Michaelmas Memories

 

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Beautiful Michaelmas daisies are blooming in my garden, bringing some last-minute cheerfulness to autumn days.

This morning, the theme at our Memory Tree group was 'harvest festivals' and talk of Michaelmas triggered a childhood rhyme for one of the members:

"Michaelmas daisies have grown so tall,

they peep right over the garden wall.

I wonder, I wonder what they can see?

The Michaelmas daisies are taller than me!"  

Autumn Asters, as they are also known, with their star-shaped flowers, get their name from the Latin word for star.   

"The Michaelmas Daisies, among dede weeds,
Bloom for St Michael's valorous deeds.
And seems the last of flowers that stood,
Till the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude."

(The Feast of St. Simon and Jude is 28 October) 

Michaelmas Day, traditionally the last day of the harvest season, was actually celebrated on September 29, but after the calendar reform of 1752, some of its associated traditional activities moved forward to October 10, sometimes called 'Old Michaelmas Day.'  Click here to find out more. 

Folklore holds that at Michaelmas the devil stamps on bramble bushes, or as they say in some areas, spits on them (or pisses on them!), so don't go picking any more blackberries. Be warned too that we may be in for a white Christmas:

'If St Michael brings many acorns, Christmas will cover the fields with snow.'

Writing prompts:

• What childhood rhymes do you remember? Write them down and any memories associated with them.
• Did you attend harvest festivals as a child? If so, recall your memories in your writing - the smells, colours and songs.
• Do you remember a white Christmas, when we had lots of snow? Write  about it in any way you like for six minutes.