St Michael’s Day and Michaelmas traditions (2024)

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St Michael’s Day and Michaelmas traditions? ›

It was an important tradition to eat a goose which had been fattened on the remains of the harvested fields, in order to protect against times of financial hardship through winter. There was a rhyme which went: Eat a goose on Michaelmas Day, Want not for money all the year.

Local tradition holds that eating goose on 29 September will bring prosperity. The good-luck goose connection comes from the historical legend (see above) concerning Queen Elizabeth I, who was said to be eating goose on Michaelmas in 1588 when she received news that her royal navy had defeated the Spanish Armada.

However despite once being a popular and important part of the calendar, the Industrial Revolution was to kill off the celebrations of Michaelmas. As factory work and urban life increasingly became the lot of the common folk, the old agricultural year and its traditions became less important.

The Origins of the Feast of Michaelmas

Like many medieval feasts and festivals, the feast of Michaelmas had both pagan and Christian origins. The feast's pagan origins relate to the celebration of the autumnal equinox and the marking of shorter hours of daylight.

Michaelmas daisy- symbolizes a departure or a farewell. Gerber daisies-symbolize cheerfulness and were often paired with ferns which symbolize sincerity. English daisy-when used as a gift flower, these daisies symbolize innocence. They were paired with primroses which are a symbol for motherly love.

Guardian of the Church

The tradition of Michael as prince-protector of the Jewish people was adopted by the Christian Church. Saint Michael has long been recognized as the protector and guardian of the Church itself and the angel of the Blessed Sacrament.

Those praying the 40 Day prayer to St. Michael are encouraged to make a small personal sacrifice to God each day. Say the supplications and prayers each day beginning on August 20 and concluding on September 28. Then, on the 40th day, pray the Consecration.

O glorious Archangel St. Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, defend us in battle, and in the struggle which is ours against the principalities and Powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against spirits of evil in high places (Eph 6:12).

Michaelmas, Christian feast of St. Michael the Archangel, celebrated in the Western churches on September 29. Given St. Michael's traditional position as leader of the heavenly armies, veneration of all angels was eventually incorporated into his feast day.

What to eat on Michaelmas? ›

It was an important tradition to eat a goose which had been fattened on the remains of the harvested fields, in order to protect against times of financial hardship through winter. There was a rhyme which went: Eat a goose on Michaelmas Day, Want not for money all the year.

Michaelmas term derives its name from the Feast of St Michael and All Angels, which falls on 29 September. The term runs from September or October to Christmas.

One legend from the British Isles holds that when St. Michael defeated Satan, he cast Satan into a particularly prickly blackberry bush—a tale that developed into the practice of making blackberry jam and pies leading up to Michaelmas and avoiding the berries once the feast had passed.

Michaelmas is typically the first festival of the new school year celebrated in Waldorf schools. The festival usually includes a harvest theme with food such as apple cider, fresh baked bread, and pumpkin muffins, as well as games and activities of courage.

Saint Michael is the patron saint of banking as well as of grocers and the police. Saint Michael lead the angelic forces against Satan to expel him and his followers from heaven (Revelation 12:7-9). In his hand are the scales with which he weighs the souls of the dead so that they can be consigned to heaven or hell.

Michael's Lent is the period of prayer and fasting in which St. Francis of Assisi received stigmata. It became tradition in the history of the Franciscans to imitate St. Francis in his prayer and fasting but that has sense fallen out of practice.

On the feast day itself they have all kinds of fruit blessed in church and serve them at dinner. They also present each other with baskets of fruit on Assumption Day. From early centuries the Feast of the Assumption was a day of great religious processions.

Families try to gather together for both All Saints' Day and the All Souls' Day (Zaduszki), the official day to commemorate the departed faithful. The celebrations begin with tending to family graves and the surrounding graveyards, lighting candles and leaving flowers.

Every time we go to Mass, we remember the saints in a special way in the Eucharist. Other traditions on this day include reading and learning about the saints, praying to the saints – especially one's Confirmation Saint – and asking for their intercession so that we, too might become saints.