March - Some interesting facts

Here comes the month of March, which was treated as the first month of a calendar by Romans in good olden days. This month synchronizes with the onset of spring a logical point for the beginning of the year as well as the military season.

As per Julian and Gregorian calendars, March is the third month of the year. It is one of the seven month having 31 days.

March is named after Mars the Roman God of war.

March starts on the same day as November every year. Except in leap year, March starts with the same day as February, as February has 28 days only in ordinary years.

March starts on the same day as September and December of the previous year. This is a regular feature if you observe any calendar.

March, as a verb has the following meanings:

To move along, in or as if in military formation.

To walk in a direct, purposeful manner; also to progress, advance and traverse. Eg. The regiments march te sackhrough the town with the band playing.

There are so many phrases formed and framed with the word ‘march’. Please consider the following:

1. Mad as a March har e: freakish, erratic, in allusion to the actions of the hare in the breeding season.

2. Slang for dismissal, the sack: When he arrived late for work yet again, he was given his marching orders.

3. A type of musical composition suitable for marching to: John Philip Souza wrote so many stirring marches that he was called the March King.

4. To advance towards a military objective: Napoleon decided to march on Russia.

5. To gain an advantage over some one, especially by acting first, or in a deceitful cunning way: He tried to steal a march on his competitors by bribing the wholesalers to supply him first.

6. 15^th March in the Roman calendar now used as a warning of disaster: Julius Caesar ignored a warning from a soothsayer to beware the ides of March and was assassinated on the same day.*

*If you’ve heard the warning, "Beware the Ides of March," then it’s probably due to the works of William Shakespeare. The Roman ruler, Julius Caesar, was assassinated on the Ides of March - March 15, 44 B.C.E. In Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, (I, ii, 33), a soothsayer tells Caesar who is already on his way to the Senate (and his death), "Beware the Ides of March."