NAMES OF THE MONTHS January was named for Janus, the Roman god who had two faces; one looking into the past and the other into the future. February comes from the Latin word FebruO, to purify. It was the time of the year for Roman cere- momies of purification. March was named for Mars, Roman god of war, and in the time of Romulus it was the first month in the year. In this day there were only ten months in the calendar. These were of uneven lengths, some having less than twenty days and some con- taining as many as thirty-five days. When Numa became King, which was about 700 years before Christ, he decided that there should be 12 months and added two — January and February — and placed them at the beginning of the calendar; and in that way March became the third month. Among the old Saxons this month was known as Lenct, mean- ing spring, and this is the origin of our word Lent. April is from the Latin word Aperio, to open; it is at this season that the flowers and leaves begin to bloom. The Saxons called the month Easter Month, in honor of Easter, the goddess of spring. May was named for Maia, daughter of the Roman deity Atlas. June was named for the goddess Juno. July for a long time was known by its old name of Quintilis, from the Latin meaning five, as it was the fifth month in the ancient calendar of Romulus; but its name was changed to July in honor of Julius Caesar. August, too, retained its old name of Sextilis (the sixth month) until the time of Augustus, who changed it to August. September is from the Latin septem, seven; orig- inally the 7th month, it has been the 9th for 2,000 years.