Name: ______________________________________ Grade 11 ______________ Date: ______________

Months of the Year

JANUARY
When the clock strikes twelve on New Years Eve and December passes into January, we say farewell to the year just gone and we hail
the New Year ahead. It is fitting that this first month should be called January, for the Roman god Janus who gave this month its name
was always represented with two faces, one that gazed at the past and one that looked to the future. However, before the name January
was adopted in England, this month was called Wulf-Mnath, or wolf-month, because at this time of the year the bitter cold brought
wolves into the villages to forage for food.

1. Who is the Roman god where the name January came from?
2. What is the name of January in England before it became England?
3. Why is it called Wulf-Mnath or wolf month?

FEBRUARY
The middle of the month of February was marked in ancient Rome for a religious ceremony in which women were beaten for barrenness.
This was called the festival of Lupercalia and was held in a cave by the river Tiber. Two youth were selected to play the leading role in the
celebration. After the goats were sacrificed, thongs were cut from their hides and given to the youths. These thongs were called februa, or
instruments of purification, and should they strike a woman, she would no longer be barren. The two young men in question would run
around the city with the sacred thongs and give smart and curative slaps to any barren girl they saw. No one knows just how they knew
whom to hit although the barrenness of a woman would probably be common knowledge in any village. However this may be, the magic
power of the thongs came from Juno, whose epithet as the goddess of fertility was Februaria, and from this word we took the name of our
month. February had 29 days, but the Roman Senate took one away and gave it to August, so that August would not be inferior to July.
Its a long step down from all this romance to the original native name for February. The factual English simply called it Sprote
Kalemonath because the cabbages were sprouting.

1. What is the religious ceremony that happened in the middle of February?

2. What is done during this ceremony and where was it held?
3. What does februa mean and what was its use?
4. What animal is killed to have februa?
5. Why is Lupercalia done?
6. Who is the goddess of fertility, also called Februaria?

MARCH
Before the time of Julius Caesar, the Roman New year began in the month of March. This was not only the beginning of the year but was
the open spring season for waging of war, so the month was dedicated to Mars, the god of war, and was named after him. Its Old English
name was Hlyd- Mnath, that is, boisterous-month, because of the winds. And, by the way, the expression mad as a March hare
comes from the fact that March is the mating season for hares, and they are supposedly full of whimsy all month.

1. Who is the god to whom the month of March is dedicated?

2. Who is the god of war?
3. Why do you think its called boisterous-month?

APRIL
This was the month of the first flowers in ancient Italy, as it is with us, and the opening spring buds gave the month its name. The Roman
name was Aprilis, based on the Latin word aperio which means open. The early Britons, on the other hand, lacked the poetry of the
Mediterranean. They rather flat-footedly called April aster-Mnat, or Easter-month. Of course, April brings in April Fools Day, and this
recalls the festivities held by all ancient peoples at the vernal equinox, beginning on their New Years Day, March 25th, and ending on April
1st. It was not until the 18th century in Great Britain that April Fools Day, as we know it, was created. The theory about this day traces
the tradition back to the medieval miracle plays that used to represent the sending of Christ from Pilate to Herod.

1. What is the meaning of the word aperio?

2. When does April Fools Day happen?
3. What does aster-Mnat mean?

MAY
This is when the time of the singing birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. Sir Thomas Malory called it the lusty
month of May. It is strange that the romantic time of May has always been considered unlucky for marriage. The Romans objected to it
for the quite understandable reason that it contained the feast in honor of Bona Dea who was the goddess of chastity. Also the festival of
the unhappy dead fell in the month of May. The name May, in Latin, Maius, is believed by many to have come from Maia who was the
mother of the god Hermes. The native English had a less romantic but much more practical name for the month. They called it Thrimilce
because, in the long, spring days, the cows could be milked three times between sunrise and evening.

1. What ceremony was considered to be unlucky to be held in the month of May?

2. Who is the goddess of chastity?
3. Who is Maia?

Ang Bayan Muna Bago ang Sarili

(Excerpts from the Homily of Jaime Cardinal Sin at the mass celebrating the 5th death anniversary of Ninoy Aquino)

(1) Five years later, we might ask ourselves; has Ninoys dream been fulfilled? Have we succeeded in building a new nation, by transcending
our petty selves, by setting aside our differences by working together in a spirit of true self-giving, loving our country first, above our own
interest? Bayan muna, bago and sarili. It is a question we must ask ourselves, as we remember Ninoys gift.

(2) It has been said that the truest motto of our people is K.K.K. No, not Katipunan, shaping unity out of our diversity. How we wish that
were our authentic name! But rather:
Kanya-Kanyang Katwiran,
Kanya-Kanyang Kagustuhan,
Kanya-Kanyang Kabig (or worse)
Kanya-Kanyang Kurakot...
or whatever else each one specializes in!
(3) Cynics (pessimists) among us say that K.K.K is the definition of our national character, the predominant strain in our national culture.
Its what we are when we are most natural, most ourselves. Bayan muna, Bago and Sarili is an abstract, non-operative ideal, good for
speeches, good for posters, good for classroom rhetoric but not for real, not for real life. For real is K.K.K.

(4) Kanya-Kanyang Katwiran, Kanya-Kanyang kagustuhan. We all remember the three monkeys; See no Evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
Sometimes one wonders, if it has become a national pastime, to see and hear and speak nothing, but evil against our fellow-citizens. Talk
can be a great service in a free nation: Talk is space for free discussion, for intelligent debate, the exchange of information and perception,
the clash of views.

(5) Ninoy himself said: We must criticize in order to be free, because we are free only when we criticized. We may not, at our own peril,
forget that. But we must remind ourselves that criticism is not an end in itself; it is not the absolute. It is meant to help us to become free,
but if it becomes the all-encompassing output of our days, a way of life... so it takes up most of our energy, most of our time, when we
begin to take delight in tearing down, demoralizing, destabilizing; when we are at each others throats all day long, then we really are
engaged in self-destruction, and the destruction of hope, the creation of despair, especially among the poor who continue to suffer in our
midst.

(6) There is a Latin saying: Unicuique suum, non praevalebunt. Every man for himself: Thats the formula for disaster. When Ninoy spoke
of the quest for that elusive national unity which is imperative for the nations survival-he said survival. He meant survival. How can
we survive, as a nation and as a people, if we have made the name of our national game as anarchic free-for-all in a basket of crabs?

(7) K.K.K also means, we are told, Kanya Kanyang Kabig, Kanya- Kanyang Kurakot. Surely I dont need to dwell on this theme this morning.
For weeks, the papers, radios, TV, have shouted nothing else. It is the talk of the marketplace. I myself have spoken, often enough, of the
40 big thieves left behind in our midst, and many many smaller ones which might include . . . even ourselves? Who among us did not re-
echo the sentiments and the work of the beloved Chino Roces when he asked for a renewed moral order in government and society? It is a
problem which must be addressed, and addressed vigorously and unrelentingly.

(8) I am sure this will be increasingly done by our president, by consistent personal example she has set a pattern for others to follow. I
know she is bent on pursuing the battle against corruption with ever more forceful and energetic action. But we know, we know that she
and those around her cannot do this all by themselves. As citizens, we must go into an action mode ourselves. The task cannot be done
without us.

(9) We must begin, rather, where we can begin, with ourselves we must ask: What can we do about it? What in our own heart, in our own
attitudes, in our own practices, must be changed? What sacrifices must we ourselves do to make a positive contribution of deeds, to put
under control this chronic illness in our society, and in our culture?

(10) If all we do is talk and talk, and throw dirt at each other-forgetting to mind the ship and its engines, and steer it in mine-filled waters-
why, we will still be taking and quarrelling when our ship goes down into the sea!

(11) If everyone in this church this morning, in Ninoys memory, pledge before the Lord that for one year, Bayan Muna, Bago ang Sarili,
would really be made an operative guideline, could it not mark at least a beginning? If for one year, just to get going, we would make the
principle govern our deeds, our conduct in society, would that not be smart already? How can we dream the impossible dream and promise
to follow the stars if we have become too calloused to do even this?

1. In the first paragraph, what were the three ways that we can build a new nation?
2. Are the lines Kanya-kanyang katwiran, kanya-kanyang kagustuhan, kanya-kanyang kabig, kanya-kanyang kurakot positive or
negative? Why?
3. What does bayan muna, bago sarili mean?
4.