It is, as you all will have noticed by now, July. Summer. The month was actually named after that little ray of sunshine that was Gaius Julius Caesar- the roman general/politician that reformed the calendar.

Most months originally did not have names, they were just numbered. July was called fifth month during Caesars lifetime. Months like September (seventh month), October (eighth month), and November (ninth month) are still just numbered.

Origin of summer

The reader will have noticed by now, that these names are a little bit out of sync- September isn’t the seventh, but the ninth month. How comes?

As I said, Julius Caesar reformed the calendar. In his time the seasons were all out of sync- because of a major flaw in the Roman calendar; it had only 360 days. This meant sometimes, after a few centuries-, winter started in May or August. This resulted in big problems- for farmers; they were confused when to sow. And if farmers had a problem-, Rome had a problem-. Because more than half of the city population was as poor as one could be (“proletarians”, people whose only possession were their children) and dependent on grain handouts. If the masses weren’t fed, the masses got fed up, which was – as always – bad news for politicians. The motto is “Panem et circenses”, meaning give the people bread and games”, after all, isn’t it…

So Caesar took the outdated roman calendar (that worked with twelve months of thirty days) and overhauled the whole thing, placed the two last months ( January and February) in front ( until then, March was the first month of the year), and added five days, and introduced the leap year once every four years. Roughly the same system we still use in our own time. It was said this action angered Mars, the god of war, and the name giver of the original first month, so much, that he decided Julius Caesar had to die. And indeed, Caesar was killed on the ides of March…

Summer songs

Nowadays many people are obsessed with summer. All year long they work hard, just to enjoy a few days in the sun when they can afford to go on vacation.

It’s all the more surprising that there are hardly any songs about the summertime.

People have written songs about every topic you might think of, but there are only a few songs about summer, vacation, or sun.

The only English language songs about summer I can think of at the moment, are In the summertime, by Mungo Jerry, Summertime by Gershwin, and Summer holiday by Cliff Richard. Maybe seasons in the sun ( Terry Jacks) fall in that category too, but first of all, it is a translation of a chanson by Jacques Brel, and second, it is not about happy summer vacations….

Maybe you know any other examples of songs in other languages about sun, summertime or vacation. If you do, do not hesitate to let us know! For now; happy holiday with lots of sunshine,!

Please do not forget to keep drinking Artemisia tea to keep you healthy. Since you are on the go, you probably do not want to spend that much time in the kitchen. Check here for quick summer recipes.