March Calendar

1st – St David’s Day

St David is of course the patron saint of Wales, the 1^st celebrates both the life of the saint and Welsh culture, but interestingly the saint is also celebrated in Canada and the USA. Not that much is known about St David, it is thought he lived to be 100, but texts about him only appeared 500 years later. So, some of his story may be true, others may just be legends. He was known to have founded several churches and a monastery, and he went on to become an archbishop, eventually he was canonised.

2^nd – Full Moon – Worm Moon

At this time of year, a full moon is known as a worm moon, as a result of early Native American tribes seeing this as the time of year that earthworms would appear due to the ground softening. But it also has other names: Full Crow Moon, Full Crust Moon, Full Sap Moon and Lenten Moon.

7^th – No Smoking Day

Stats suggest that at least 60% of smokers will try to give up during January as part of new year resolutions, but by February will have re-started. Unfortunately, smoking is still the number one cause of preventable death in the UK. The 7^th March represents a national day geared to helping people to give up for good. Visit the British Heart Foundation website where you can download a booklet and take the first steps to quitting. www.bhf.org.uk/publications/smoking/stop-smoking/

11^th – Mother’s Day

The modern day that we celebrate as Mother’s Day actually had different beginnings. It used to be a day that folk travelled back to the church that they were either baptised in or where they attended church as a child. The resulting action was that families that had fragmentated due to work etc, reunited on this day. As time went on, it was often a day that servants were given off, in order that they could return home, to visit their mother and bring gifts such as food or even hand-me-down clothing from their employer.

17^th – St Patrick’s Day

St Patrick’s Day celebrates Irish culture in general alongside the Saint Patrick who ministered Christianity during the fifth century. The day is celebrated in many places across the world, where people often dress up in traditional costume and dye things green and the Irish shamrock heavily features as an icon. He is said to have died on the 17^th March, he grew up in Roman Britain, but was later captured and taken as a slave by Irish raiders. When he was eventually returned to his family he entered the church and became a missionary.

20^th – March Equinox

The March or Vernal Equinox mark the beginning of Spring. Equinox is the Latin word for aequus meaning equal and nox refers to night. Suggesting that during this period we get an equal day and night of 12 hours each.

25^th – Clocks Go Forward

On Sunday 25^th March 2018 at 1am clocks go forward by one hour to create daylight saving time, therefore from this point sunset and sunrise will be an hour later and more light will creep through in the evening.

30^th – Good Friday

Good Friday is one of the most important dates in the Christian calendar, and will be celebrated across the world with special church services. Of course, the day depicts and commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus and as such it can seem odd that the day has Good in the title, when the event is about the ultimate sacrifice and suffering. But it is possible that Good may have been a different rendering of God or another meaning for holy.

31^st – Full Moon – Blue Moon

This year February did not have a full moon, and as such two full moons occur in March. The second occurring on the last day of the month. Because this is the second, it is known as a Blue Moon. 2018 is unique in that January & March both have two full moons and February has none.

1^st-31^st – Ovarian Cancer & Prostrate Cancer Awareness Month

http://ocam.org.uk/

https://prostatecanceruk.org/