Michaelmas, << MIHK uhl muhs, >> is a festival held on September 29 in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, and on November 8 in the Greek, Armenian, and Coptic churches. The feast honors Saint Michael the archangel (see Michael, Saint ). Michaelmas probably originated in the Roman Empire in the A.D. 400’s. The festival was particularly important during the Middle Ages when Saint Michael was the patron saint of knights and also one of the patron saints of the Roman Catholic Church.
In the United Kingdom and several other countries, Michaelmas is one of the four quarter days of the year when rents and bills come due. It is also the beginning of a quarterly court term and an academic term at Oxford and Cambridge. The British celebrate Michaelmas with meals of roast goose, a custom that started hundreds of years ago when people included a goose in their rent payments. An English proverb says, “If you eat goose on Michaelmas Day you will never want money all the year round.”
