Fun facts and trivial tidbits

Happy Tuesday everyone!!!  Hopefully you had a good Labor Day weekend.  Probably some of you did work, but hopefully you were paid well to labor on Labor Day.  This week's installment of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits will center around the month of September.  How much do you know about this month?  Some of us used to associate September with going back to school (yeah, really dated myself there..), and others probably associate early September (especially right after Labor Day) with the end of summer and summer vacation.

Did you know the origin of the word "September"?  It's root is in the Roman word "septem" which means seven.  This came about because in the Roman calendar, September was actually the seventh month of the year, not the ninth month as it is in our Gregorian Calenders.  The Anglo Saxons called this month "Gerst monath (Barley month) because this was when they harvested barley. 

Another interesting fact about September, is when Britain changed from the Julian Calendar (which is 365.25 days long) to the Gregorian calendar in 1752, we lost 11 days.  So, September 3rd immediately became September 14th.  Therefore time between September 3, 1752 and September 14, 1752 is the only time in British history where NOTHING happened...  Pretty cool information? 

Did you know that September 17th is Constitution Day (also Citizenship Day) in the United States of America?  The United States Constitution was ratified by the US Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Now that we have the serious facts covered, let's have some fun with September - did you know that September is National Chicken Month?  It is also Cholesterol Awareness Month right here in the good ol' U.S. of A. 

The poem, "Mary had a Little Lamb" was published September 1, 1830

September also has a National Teddy Bear Day and a National Play-Doh Day.  It seems like September is a great month to play in...

To wander off the subject of September for a moment, the interesting item about National Teddy Bear Day is that the United States has TWO National Teddy Bear Days, one in September and then another one in November.  The November event was created by the Vermont Teddy Bear Company in 2000 to celebrate the contribution the teddy bear has made to popular culture....Perhaps in November we will discuss how the Teddy Bear got it's name...

The U.S. Supreme Court was established in September 1789 as was the U.S. Treasury Department.

In Medieval times, September 24th is traditionally the start of  harvesting and Michaelmas Day (September 29th) is traditionally the last day of the harvest season. 

Hopefully you enjoyed these fun facts and trivial tidbits about the month of September.  There are a large number of celebrations and odd events that occur during the month of September.  Have fun with them.

Tomorrow being hump day, we will re-introduce our Motivational Wednesday information.  This way, you will stay motivated through the day tomorrow and then we can keep you motivated the remainder of the week.

Until tomorrow...