MARCH

Wearers of the sea water colored gemstone
favorite of sailors of bygone days
you know your dream of aquamarine
signifies the making of new friends
the bearing of it, love and affection
your birthstone, or nineteenth anniversary gem
thus a symbol of youth, fidelity, hope and health.

Most born under the first sign of the zodiac,
Aires, associated with the planet Mars,
named for the god of war who as Mars,
also was father of Romulus and the Roman people,
are thought to be pioneering, competitive, adventuresome, athletic,
successful, interested in among other things, medicine and engineering.

It may have escaped your attention, yet under the
original Roman calendar, March was the first month of the year,
only later on were January and February added to try
to even out the year but unsuccessfully so
due to the selfish manipulations of the officials thus entrusted.

Overcoming this, with sage advice, Gaius Julius Caesar
decided to use a purely solar calendar to give the Romans
a rational means of recording time.
Almost, but not quite succeeding, his year some
eleven minutes longer than a solar year,
in time a vastly accumulated discrepancy,
wreaking havoc with religious necessities,
it behooved Pope Gregory to make the necessary adjustments
and thus was born the Gregorian calendar using the
approximate birth of Christ as year one.

Many are the varied items of significance
that happened over recorded time during the month of March,
too many to itemize, it would be a very long listing indeed,
suffice a sample of those born to include Michelangelo, Vincent Van Gogh,
Americus Vespucius, Albert Einstein, René Descartes, Johann Sebastian Bach,
Johann Strauss the Elder, Harry James, Henrik Ibsen, Robert Frost.

Just a few very significant historical events attributable to March
would have to include the date of the Ides of March 0044-BC-marking
Julius Caesar's assassination, Romeo and Juliet's wedding day,
the 11th of March 1302 (according to Shakespeare),
Naples banning public kissing (punishable by death) 9th of March 1562
and finally, a Hatfield marries a McCoy, ending
a twenty year old feud on the 21st of March 1891 in West Virginia.

To you, who may look askance at history,
thinking what has this to do with me now,
may I remind you gently, each moment you
look at, or log in your calendar, you have none other
than Julius Ceasar and Pope Gregory to thank
and not only that, but as you say,
"God Bless You" to the next person who sneezes,
be it known that indeed it was
Pope Gregory the Great, who on the 16th of March 0600,
decreed, saying, "God Bless You"
is the correct response to a sneeze.

Herbert Holzbauer
© March 2001

Midi: "Clar"
Composer: Bert Hilby