We may watch out for the weather on the 22nd September 2021. According to an old farmers’ rule of thumbs, the weather on the Wednesday of Michaelmas Embertide predicts the weather of October…
Every year, following the third Sunday of September, three so-called Ember Days of fasting and thanksgiving (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) precede the feast day of Saint Michael the Archangel on the 29th September.
This article will explore what Ember Days are, and why we may want to give some attention to the moonrise next week…
“Ember Days were communal fasts that Christians held four times a year at the beginning of the four seasons. ‘Ember‘ doesn‘t refer to burning coals (…). It‘s from the Anglo-Saxon ymbren, meaning a circle or revolution, which may itself be a corruption of the Latin phrase quatuor tempora, meaning ‘four times.‘ (…) They are fixed times set aside to pray, thank God for his abundant blessings, identify with Christ‘s suffering, help the needy, and renew the spirit of repentance from sin.“
Jay W. Richards: Eat, Fast, Feast. Heal Your Body While Feeding Your Soul – A Christian Guide to Fasting, HarperOne 2020, p. 234-235
The traditional fasting requirements for such days are to eat only one satisfying meal, abstaining from meat on Friday.
Ember Days according to Jacobus de Voragine in his Golden Legend
“The ember day, or four-season, fasts were instituted by Pope Callistus and are observed four times a year, following the four seasons of the year.
Jacobus de Voragine: The Golden Legend. Readings on the Saints, Princeton University Press 1993, p. 139-140
There are many reasons for this practice. The first is that spring is warm and humid, summer hot and dry, autumn cool and dry, winter cold and wet. Therefore we fast in the spring to control the harmful fluid of voluptuousness in us; in summer, to allay the noxious heat of avarice; in autumn, to temper the aridity of pride; in winter, to overcome the coldness of malice and lack of faith.
The second reason for these four periods of fast is that the first one falls in March, i.e., in the first week of Lent, so that the vices that are in us may wither – they cannot be completely extinguished – and the seeds of the virtues may sprout. The second fast falls in summer, in Pentecost week, because the Holy Spirit comes at that time and we ought to be fervent in the Spirit. In September we fast before Saint Michael‘s feast, because then the fruits of the earth are harvested and we should offer to God the fruits of good works. The fourth fast comes in December because then the grasses die, and we should die to the world.
The third reason is that we fast in order to imitate the Jews. They fasted four times a year – before Passover, before their Pentecost, before the feast of Tabernacles in September, and before the feast of Dedication in December.
The fourth reason is that man consists of the four elements, as regards the body and three powers, the rational, the concupiscible, and the irascible, as regards the soul. In order to control these elements and powers in us, we fast for three days four times a year, the number 4 referring to the body, the number 3 to the soul. These reasons are proffered by Master John Beleth.
The fifth reason, as stated by John of Damascus, is that in the spring there occurs an increase of blood, in the summer, of choler, in the autumn, of melancholia, and in winter, of phlegm. Therefore we fast in spring to weaken the blood of concupiscence and senseless gaiety in us; the sanguine person being libidinous and volatile. In summer we fast to weaken the bile of wrathfulness and falsity, because the choleric person is naturally inclined to bad temper and deception. In the autumn we fast to counteract the melancholia of cupidity and despondency, because the melancholic is naturally greedy and gloomy. In the winter our fasting reduces the phlegm of sluggishness and laziness, the phlegmatic being by nature dull and slothful.
The sixth reason is that spring is compared to air, summer to fire, autumn to earth, and winter to water. So in spring we fast to tame our high spirits and our pride, in summer to damp the fire of greed and covetousness, in autumn to overcome the earth of spiritual frigidity and murky ignorance, in winter to harness the water of our lightheadedness and inconstancy.
A seventh reason is that spring is related to childhood, summer to adolescence, autumn to adulthood or the prime of life, and winter to old age. Therefore we fast in spring in order to preserve the innocence of the child, in summer to develop strength by living chaste lives, in autumn to grow young by constancy and mature by righteousness. In winter we strive by fasting to grow in prudence and virtuous living like the old, or rather, make satisfaction for any offense we have given to God in earlier years.
William of Auxerre has given us an eighth reason: we fast four times in the year to atone for our failures in the same four seasons. Furthermore, we fast for three days in order to atone in a day for the faults committed in each month; we fast on Wednesday because Judas betrayed the Lord on that day, on Friday because that is the day Christ was crucified, on Saturday because that day he lay in the tomb and the apostles grieved over the violent death of their Master.“
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Juda, joy, and gladness, and great solemnities: only love ye truth and peace.“
Zechariah 8: 19
The Ember Days in September: giving thanks for the grape and autumn harvest
Ember Days, then, mark the beginning of a new season. They emphasize both penance and joyful thanksgiving to God for the benefits and blessings of the specific season.
The Michaelmas Embertide in September, occurring around the day of the fall equinox, is linked specifically to the harvest of the grapes used for making wine, and to the time of the autumn harvest in general. By God‘s grace we reap the fruits of what was sown in winter and spring and has ripened throughout summer.
This passage from the prophet Amos is associated with the Ember Days of September:
“Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and every hill shall be tilled. And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel: and they shall build the abandoned cities, and inhabit them: and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them: and shall make gardens, and eat the fruits of them. And I will plant them upon their own land: and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.“
Amos 9: 13-15
In the lunar calendar of the Jewish people, the first few weeks of autumn in September and October are marked by the feasts of Rosh haShana, the Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and Sukkot, the very joyful Festival of Tabernacles.
In Old Testament times, the day of Rosh haShana used to be Yom Teruah when trumpets were blown – trumpets calling to repentance, reminding of God’s judgment, starting off a period of ten penitential days that culminated in the communal fast of Yom Kippur.
“ADONAI spoke to Moses saying: ‘Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a Shabbat rest, a memorial of blowing (shofarot), a holy convocation. You are to do no regular work, and you are to present an offering made by fire to ADONAI.‘
Leviticus 23: 23-44
ADONAI spoke to Moses, saying: ‘However, the tenth day of this seventh month is Yom Kippur, a holy convocation to you, so you are to afflict yourselves. You are to bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI. You are not to do any kind of work on that set day, for it is Yom Kippur, to make atonement for you before ADONAI your God. For anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people. Anyone who does any kind of work on that day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no kind of work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It is to be a Shabbat of solemn rest for you, and you are to humble your souls. On the ninth day of the month in the evening – from evening until evening – you are to keep your Shabbat.‘
ADONAI spoke to Moses saying: ‘Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, and say, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast of Sukkot, for seven days to ADONAI. On the first day there is to be a holy convocation – you are to do no laborious work. For seven days you are to bring an offering by fire to ADONAI. The eighth day will be a holy convocation to you, and you are to bring an offering by fire to ADONAI. It is a solemn assembly – you shall do no laborious work. (…)
So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you are to keep the Feast of ADONAI for seven days. The first day is to be a Shabbat rest, and the eighth day will also be a Shabbat rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit of trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and rejoice before ADONAI your God for seven days. You are to celebrate it as a festival to ADONAI for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations – you are to celebrate it in the seventh month. You are to live in sukkot for seven days. All the native-born in Israel are to live in sukkot, so that your generations may know that I had Bnei-Yisrael to dwell in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am ADONAI your God.“ So Moses declared to Bnei-Yisrael the moadim (i.e. appointed times) of ADONAI.“
Autumn, then, is both a time of weeping, repenting, and rejoicing in the Old Testament, and the same paradox seems to be inscribed into the liturgical calendar of the Church, as September is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Sorrowful Mother and sees the Exaltation of the Lord‘s Holy Cross as well as the triumphant feast day of Saint Michael the Archangel, the protector of Israel and the Church and Prince of the heavenly armies, while in the natural world it is leading up to the abundant and joyful array of fruits, new wine, and an almost psychedelic transformation of the trees into all the colors of the rainbow, tinged with a bit of melancholy due to the slow waning of summer‘s warmth and long days…
The “harvest moon“
This year, Michaelmas Embertide and the seven days of Sukkot occur in the same week. It is a week beginning with the first full moon of autumn, each year coming around either in September or October, which is traditionally called “harvest moon“, aligning with the Jewish festival of Sukkot, as it takes place about a fortnight after the new moon of Rosh haShana.
For several evenings, this year around the 21st September, the feast day of Saint Matthew-Levi the Apostle, a full moon rises after sunset and casts a bright light that used to help the farmers with harvesting their crops. And thus its name “harvest moon“…
“(…) let us fear the Lord our God, who giveth us the early and the latter rain in due season: who preserveth for us the fulness of the yearly harvest.“
Jeremiah 5: 24
“But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing. Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith.“
Galatians 6: 8-10