James Baquet

September. For many people, it means the start of a new school year.

It is also the month in which autumn arrives. This has always been my favorite season. Even as a Southern California boy, I noticed the change in the light, the shortening of days, the cooling of the weather.

Look at the lyrics to “September Song”:

Oh, it’s a long, long while from May to December,

But the days grow short when you reach September,

When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame

One hasn’t got time for the waiting game.

Oh the days dwindle down… to a precious few…

September…November…

But these few precious days I’ll spend with you.

These precious days I’ll spend with you.

The singer here is using September as a symbol of approaching the end of life. Because it is sort of “the beginning of the end,” September has come to represent one’s later years.

In the modern Western calendar (“the Gregorian calendar,”) September is the ninth month out of 12. In the earliest days of the Roman empire, however, there was a different calendar. It had only 10 regular months in the year, and September was the seventh. This is the source of its name: “septem” means “seventh” in Latin.

Likewise, October was the eighth month, November the ninth, and December the 10th. You can see this in their roots: octo- indicates eight, novem- nine, and decem- 10.

In that calendar, the first month was the one we call “March.” In addition to the regular 10, there were usually two “floating months” in that old calendar, determined by the priests.

Later, in place of the floating months, two permanent months were added after December.