We’ve all heard the phrase, “beware of the Ides of March.” Mostly we associate it with the soothsayer’s warning to Julius Caesar… but the term didn’t originate with William Shakespeare. Way back when, the earliest Roman calendar consisted of ten months beginning with March (Martius.) That calendar was created around 753 B.C. by King Romulus and at the time, dates were expressed in relation to the lunar phase of the month using three “markers” — Kalends, Nones and Ides. The first phase of the moon (the new moon) was denoted by Kalends and signified the first day of the month. The first quarter moon fell on either the fifth or the seventh day of the month and was referred to as Nones. The full moon fell on either the 13th or 15th day of the month and was referred to as Ides. The Ides of March — March 15 — initially marked the first full moon of the new year. The Ides occurred on the 13th for some months, but on the 15th for March, May, July and October.
Those of us with a few years under our belt will remember that Income Taxes were due on the 15th of March; the due date was pushed back to the 15th of April a number of years ago. That used to be a good reason to beware and over the years a number of things have happened that makes one think there may be something to this Ides thing…
In 1939 Germany occupied Czechoslovakia; in 1971 the Ed Sullivan Show was cancelled by CBS; in 1988 NASA reported that the ozone layer over the Northern Hemisphere had been depleted three times faster than predicted; in 2003 the World Health Organization issued a heightened global alert for a new disease called SARS (Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome.)
And if that’s not enough, March 15th seems to be a particularly cruel day for weather. In 1941 a deadly blizzard hit the Great Plains and in 1952 the most rain to ever fall in a 24 hour period (73.62 inches) fell on the island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean.
And this morning on the Ides of March, guess what and how much is on the ground here in Shepherdstown?
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