In the
Anglo-Saxon calendar, Blōtmōnaþ (modern English: ''
blót sacrifice, mōnaþ month'') was the month roughly corresponding to
November
November is the eleventh and penultimate month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 30 days. November was the ninth month of the calendar of Romulus . November retained its name (from the Latin ''novem'' meaning " ...
.
The month was recorded by the English
scholar
A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...
Bede
Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...
in his treatise ''
De temporum ratione'' (The Reckoning of Time), saying "Blod-monath is month of immolations, for it was in this month that the cattle which were to be slaughtered were dedicated to the gods.”
Chapter XV, De mensibus Anglorum.
''"Blot-monath mensis immolationum, quia in ea pecora quae occisuri erant diis suis voverent.”''
An entry in the Menologium seu Calendarium Poeticum, an Old English poem about the months, explains:
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blotmonath
November
Old English