Talk:Michaelmas

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HI, I'm Justin and I happen to be born on Michaelmas(sep.29)! Plus, I go to a church entitled "St. Michael and All Angels". And I just found out about this holiday, and our church is St. Michael crazy! I'll have to tell our priest, Peter Hanes, about this artical. Feel free to discuss if you have something to talk about Michaelmas. I can't believe that I just found Out about this!


Alphabetical list It would be an improvement if the institutions were listed alphathebetically, the order at the moment seems pretty random.

Contents

[edit] I'm still none the wiser

So, Michaelmas is a Christian festival celebrated on Sep 29. But what is it celebrating? The article doesn't tell me.... Does it have any significance beyong being a quarter day? I presume so, but the article doesn't tell me what... Roy Badami 01:19, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

It is the Feast Day / Saint's Day for St Michael the Archangel (Michael's Mass) CDV 11:24, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
Feast days do not necessarily celebrate an occurence; every day of the year is a feast day for at least one of the Saints. Thus, September 29th just happens to be the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel. Since St. Michael is pretty important, his feast day used to be a holy day of obligation, which means it is a day when one is supposed to attend mass. Phil Bastian 18:01, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removal of copyrighted section

I've taken out the three paragraphs that quite openly claim to be taken from a copyrighted source, the Encyclopedia Britannica, in line with WP:CP. I've also removed the reference to beige trousers in relation to Michaelmas, it being both unsubstantiated (please include a source if you revert this) and trivia. QuantumGroupie 16:25, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Angels and Saints

To be a saint, one has to have lived on earth as a human being!!! "Saint" Michael and his "heavenly host" friends never did so. So, how can they be saints? (It is also normally required that the candidate be Roman Catholic (forget the daft ideas of the Mormons). Michael and his chums were presumably Jewish as they appear in the Jewish Bible (Old Testament). All very confusing!!!--PeadarMaguidhir 12:23, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps confusing, but the fact is that in some Christian belief-systems (e.g. Catholicism), to have lived on earth as a human being is not in fact a requirement; Michael and the archangels are recognized as saints. Your point about them being Jewish is interesting, but as they aren't human it's difficult to declare them adherents of any religion; but in ancient Judaism it could be presumed, perhaps, that God and His human and angelic followers were all Jewish in this cosmic sense. Even so, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. have been "brought into the fold" as Christian patriarchs, as have the angels. To Christians, there is only one Bible (i.e. the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament are not exclusively Jewish). --198.59.190.201 16:38, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Need for an article on Old Michaelmas Day

Did readers know that October 11 is Old Michaelmas Day? There is an interesting story about why you should not pick blackberries after that day, which is to do with the fall of Satan from Heaven after losing his battle with St. Michael. Should we start a Wikipedia article on this date, or else incorporate this information here? ACEOREVIVED 21:23, 2 October 2007 (UTC) I first learnt about this from a paperback entitled "Festivals and Customs", by Patricia Morrell, published, I believe, by Piccolo Books, about 1977. If any one has this book, or other sources that could be a good citation, the "Old Michaelmas" would receive some book citation. ACEOREVIVED 19:50, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

I have now added the reference to the Morrell book, having found the paperback myself. This book gives the date of Old Michaelmas Day as October 11, but according to Cooper and Sullivan (1994), and also some websites, the date is [[October 10]. Cooper and Sullivan refer to some other customs surrounding Old Michaelmas, such as Old Michaelmas fairs. ACEOREVIVED 19:37, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

Reference:

Cooper, Q. & Sullivan, P. (1994). "Maypoles, Martyrs and Mayhem". London: Bloomsbury. ISBN: 0 7475 18070