Michaelmas Embertide

St. Michael’s Feast Day is September 29 (Michaelmas).  Therefore, September is the Month of St. Michael.  It is also the month of a new season (Autumn), and therefore the month of an Embertide which means the week before a new season and a time to celebrate Michaelmas Embertide.

 

Remember that lore says that the weather conditions of each of the three days of an Embertide foretell the weather of the next three months.

So the weather seen on Wednesday (Sep 16) of Michaelmas Embertide predicts the weather of the coming October.

The weather on Friday (Sep 18) weather foretells the weather of November.

The weather on Saturday (Sep 19) foretells the weather of December.

Make a note of the weather on those three days and see if the old tales are true!

Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 14 September, 1 are known as "Michaelmas Embertide" because that same month celebrates the Feast of St. Michael on September 29 and September is the Month of Michael.  Michaelmas Embertide comes near the beginning of Autumn (September, October, November). The Lessons focus on the Old Covenant's Day of Atonement and the fast of the seventh month, but start off with this prophecy from Amos 9:13-15: Behold the days come, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed, and the mountains shall dop sweetness, and every hill shall be tilled. And I will bring back the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the abandoned cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them; and shall make gardens and eat the fruits of them; and I will plant them upon their land: and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given them; saith the Lord thy God. Like all Embertides but Whit Embertide, the Lessons end with the story of the three boys in the fiery furnace, as told by Daniel. The Gospel readings recount how Jesus exorcised demons from a possessed boy and tells the disciples about fasting to cast out unclean spirits (Matthew 9:16-28), forgave Mary Magdalen (Luke 7:36-50), and healed the woman on the sabbath after telling the parable of the fig tree (Luke 13:6-17).