Michaelmas

A Christian festival honouring Archangel Michael and all angels, celebrated on September 29 in western churches and on November 8 in Eastern traditions.  The name combines Michael and mass similar to Christmas.  It honours St Michael as the leader of heavenly armies who defeated Satan.  It is a seasonal marker that acknowledges the end of the harvest and the start of autumn.  It served as a traditional financial and academic quarter day in Britain and Ireland.  People traditionally eat goose on the day for goodluck and financial protection.  According to folklore blackberries rot after Michaelmas because Satan fell into a blackberry bush.  On the day families bake special cakes like Michaelmas bannocks.  Many universities still name the term as Michaermas term.