Fun facts about April

April is the 4th month on our calendar is the season of spring. Hibernating small animals are waking up at this time and there are 2 celebrations that often but don’t always take place in this month. Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox on March 21. It can arrive in late March or early to mid April. Passover is determined by the Jewish lunar calendar and like Easter can show up in either the second or 3rd month of the year. In the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers it was in the month of April when the birds, bees, and barnyard animals began coming to life as the snow on the mountain melted.

April gets its name from the Latin word Apria which means to bud. The etymology behind the name of the 4th month comes from the verb “aperire,” which means “to open.” April was also named for Aphrodite the Greek goddess of love and spring is considered the season of love. On the Roman calendar, April is spelled Aprilis, which means "to open" so each name is appropriate for the 4th month because in many locations in the northern hemisphere this is indeed the month when trees and flowers begin to open and bud as they bloom and go on to flower.

The honorary flowers for the month are sweet peas and daisies and the birthstone is the Diamond. April is very unpredictable as a day may begin sunny and warm and later have snow and low temperatures. The morning could start out rainy, windy and cold and change to fair weather by the afternoon. There are also a number of just for fun dates in this month which include:

Apr. 1: April Fool’s day and Sweet Potato Day

Apr. 6: International Pillow Fight Day

Apr. 7: National No Housework Day

Apr. 17: Blah, Blah, Blah Day

Apr. 21: Go Fly a Kite Day

Apr. 26: National Richter Scale Day

Apr. 27: National Sense of Smell Day.

The name of the fourth month is a popular name given to a lot of girls at birth and April is the 250th most popular name in the United Kingdom and 423rd most common name in the United States. April is the month for national awareness for Jazz, Mathematics, Stress, Pets, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and Bowel Cancer. April happens to be the only month out of all 12 that has the letter “I” in its name. The Anglo-Saxons labeled April as Eostre-Monadh, possibly named after a pagan Goddess. The worship of Eostre is believed by some to be the root of the word Easter.

The board game Scrabble is celebrated on April 13th and the Titanic sank in 1912 between April 14th and 15th. April is the fourth month of the year on the Gregorian calendar that we use today. but was the fifth month in the Julian calendar and the second month on the Roman calendar. April once had only 29 days, but a 30th day was added when Julius Caesar established his Julian calendar. There is an old adage that days: “April showers bring May flowers.” In layers years I heard this saying. “ If April showers bring May flowers then what do May flowers bring”? The answer is Pilgrims.

As small hibernating animals emerge from their burrows in April, the birds who flew south for the winter are returning to the north and settling down to begin reproducing. The butterflies and bees begin gathering nectar from the first flowers of the season. In some parts of the world, April is planting time for gardens while in other locations it is the season of harvest. April is also Humor month so please have yourself a good laugh.