Michaelmas is one of four quarter days in the Old English calendar and also marked the end of the harvest period so was when places of learning resumed studies for the autumn. Many of our oldest universities still kick off the new academic year with a Michaelmas term.
The legal year is split into four terms - Michaelmas, Hilary, Easter and Trinity - and starts at Michaelmas with a ceremony in Westminster Hall called The Lord Chancellor's Breakfast. These days it's more of a light buffet, and the 600 judges are driven from Temple Bar rather than walking, but the Lord Chancellor still reads a lesson as part of the service in the Abbey afterwards. Be in your pew by 11.30am if you plan to take part.
The Spanish Armada was defeated in August but the news took several weeks to filter through, reaching Queen Elizabeth during a Michaelmas feast, triggering the annual tradition of eating roast goose on 29th September.
Michaelmas is the last day on which blackberries should be picked, traditionally because Satan fell into a blackberry bush after defeat by St Michael and in his fury urinated on the fruit to make it unfit for eating.
Barnet Fair began in Tudor times, a Michaelmas gathering to trade horses, watch boxing matches and engage in other pleasurable activities. In the 1870s its traditional field on the edge of town was replaced by High Barnet station.
Perhaps London's most significant Michaelmas tradition is the election of the new Lord Mayor of London. City liverymen will meet today at the Guildhall to select one of their own on a show of hands, with the chosen candidate becoming Lord Mayor Elect. A slap-up lunch follows the vote.
Michaelmas is no longer technically Michaelmas since the calendar changed in 1752 with the loss of eleven days, so by rights should be celebrated on 10th October instead. Nature hasn't shifted, of course, so folklore experts reassure us that blackberries remain safe to eat until that later date. Whatever, why not celebrate Michaelmas today with a traditional roast goose dinner, and don't forget to pick a bunch of asters to grace the table.
