September 29 is the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the three Archangels named in Scripture. Historically, however, September 29 was the great feast of St. Michael himself. It was once even a Holy Day of Obligation.
As Christmas comes from “Christ's Mass,” Michaelmas means “Michael's Mass.” And Catholics didn't just go to Mass. They celebrated.
In the British Isles, Michaelmas became associated with the beginning of autumn and the harvest. It was one of the year's traditional “quarter days,” when rents and debts were settled. The feast became so embedded in the culture that some British universities still call their autumn semester “Michaelmas term.”
But the old food traditions are the most fun.
Michaelmas was sometimes called “Goose Day,” because farmers traditionally brought their fattened geese to market around the feast. Roast goose became the customary Michaelmas dinner. If a goose is a little ambitious, Dining with the Saints suggests duck as an easier substitute. But chicken also works!
Then there are the blackberries.
According to an old British legend, when St. Michael cast Satan out of heaven, the devil landed in a blackberry bush. Furious, he spat on the berries. Thus came the warning that blackberries should be eaten by Michaelmas, but never afterward.
It was folklore, of course, but it gave Catholics an excellent excuse for blackberry pie or crumble on St. Michael's feast.
You can even put Michaelmas daisies on the table. These purple flowers bloom in late summer and early fall and took their name from the feast that arrives just as the seasons begin to change.
Our Catholic ancestors didn't separate the liturgical calendar from ordinary life quite as easily as we sometimes do. A great feast affected what they prayed, what they ate, what they called the season, and sometimes even what they planted.
So this September 29, why not bring back Michaelmas?
Make something with blackberries. Put flowers on the table. Read Revelation 12:7-9 together and remember the great battle in heaven. Most importantly, pray the St. Michael Prayer:
“St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil…”
Ask all of the Archangels to pray for us!
A novena is a beautiful way to pray for a specific intention or for a person's spritual protection. This Treasury of Novenas contains over forty popular Novenas specifically arranged in accord with the Liturgical Year on the Feasts of Jesus, Mary, and many Favorite Saints. Discover yours today at The Catholic Company!
