Tarver-Gen Reference: The Colonial Calendar
Or What Month is 7bre?
While reading through old deed and court order books, it's common to run across such dates as 7br 6th, 1687, or 9br 14, 1702. The Surry County Court Orders Books that I own, for example, reference the months as: 7bre, 8bre, 9bre and xbre.
9bre is not September, as you might imagine, if you were to think it referred to the 9th month of the year.
These names come from Latin for numbers of the months, which can be confusing since these numbers don't correspond to the months of the year as we number them today. These colonial months were:
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7br/7bre is September (septembre) from septem for the number 7;
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8br/8bre is October (octobre) from octo for the number 8;
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9br/9bre is November (novembre) from novem for the number 9;
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10br/10bre or xbr/xbre is December (decembre) from decem for the number 10.
(The "x" in xbr/xbre is an alternate abbreviation from the Roman numeral for 10.)
The numbering of these months is off by today's calendar, but January was not always the first month of the year. In early calendars, there were only ten months. January and February did not exist.
Without January and February, counting forward makes September the 7th month, October the 8th, November the 9th and December the 10th. Thus the explanation of the naming and numbering of those months.
The other months were named on this initial calendar as follows [in Latin followed by (English) (French / Spanish]:
- Martis (March) (mars / marzo) for Mars, god of War;
- Aprilis (April) (avril / abril) various explanations given by different scholars, but the one I prefer is "apricus" which means sunny;
- Maius (May) (mai / mayo) for Maia, goddess of youth and vitality (i.e. new growth) or Mother Earth;
- Junius (June) (juin / junio) for Juno, queen of the gods and the goddess of marriage - hence a great month for weddings!
The remaining months were named simply for their order in sequence: Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November and December. Later Quintilis was renamed Julius (July)(juli / julio) for Julius Caesar and Sextilis became Augustus (August)(aout / agusto) for Augustus Caesar.
Calendar Confusion
Adding January & February and Redefining the New Year
King Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome (715 to 672 BC), during his reign added Januarius (January) (janvier / enero) named for the god Janus and Februarius (February)(fevrier / febrero) named for Februa, a Roman purification ritual, as the eleventh and twelfth months.
Then, to ensure the calendar was consistent with the vernal equinox, which was supposed to occur on March 25, Julius Caesar decreed the year should begin with the month of January rather than March (possibly to move it closer to the winter solstice).
Throughout the Julian calendar's history, the beginning of the year at times reverted to March. Other starting dates also were introduced for brief periods.
Soon after the beginning of Christianity, England and other parts of Western Europe accepted winter solstice as December 25 and the birth of Christ. For much of the Middle Ages, England observed the birth of Christ or December 25 as the first day of the year.
A December 25th birthday meant the date of conception was the spring equinox or March 25th, which also was celebrated as the date Christ arose from the dead or was reborn. Thus March 25th became accepted as the beginning of the year, persisting until 1751.
During the founding of America, the Gregorian calendar was used in Britain and its colonies. The calendar started the year on March 25. Thus March 25, 1700, for example, was followed by March 26, 1701. By 1752, the new year had again shifted to January.
Colonial record books thus reflect both calendar years given for months January through March.
In other parts of the world, cultural calendars are still used that do not reflect January 1 as the beginning of the new year.
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