History of Each Month: September

Continuation of series. Our calendar has the names of 12 months and although we may vaguely know of the name's origin, there is a rich history behind the name chosen for each month. The source for the information I share is from The Stories of the Months and the Days, by Reginald C. Couzens, 1923. Here is some of what he wrote about September:

"The name of this month means simply "seventh", and so suggests to us neither god nor hero. We find, however, that there were several festivals held in the month, and not the least important of these was one held on the second of the month, and known as the Actian Games. On this day, in the year 31 B.C., was fought the great sea battle, off Actium in Greece, in which Augustus defeated Marcus Antonius and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. On the promontory of Actium stood a temple to Apollo, and from that time onward games in honour of Apollo were held on each anniversary of the victory.

It was a common custom among the Greeks and Romans to hold games or sports in honour of a god, and the most famous of all, the Olympic Games were held every four years in Greece in honour of Zeus, the Roman Jupiter. These games lasted for five days, and consisted of foot-races, chariot-races, wrestling, boxing, throwing the quoit and the javelin. The first prize was usually a wreath made from the laurel tree, the favourite tree of Apollo."

We will be doing 1 ATC for 1 partner. It can be any media, it can be literal or figurative. You can certainly do more research if you wish, or simply draw from what is quoted here. Your ATCs just need to reflect in some manner the history behind the name of September.

ATC must have an element that is entirely originally made by you. This could be hand-drawn, hand-painted, sewn, or a mixed media piece involving different papers, ephemera, AND paint/inks. Scrapbook style (anything using more than 10 percent scrapbooking type materials and ATCs that do not have an original art element as described above) is not permitted in this swap.

Have fun with it!