Michaelmas

Michaelmas, observed on September 29, is the traditional Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels. In the old English calendar it was also one of the four quarter days, when rents, accounts and other obligations were settled and the turning of the season formally marked. Falling near the autumnal equinox and the end of harvest, Michaelmas became associated with the beginning of autumn work and institutional life. Its name survives conspicuously in the Anglosphere’s educational tradition: Oxford and Cambridge still call the opening term of the academic year Michaelmas Term, preserving an ancient connection among faith, season, learning and the calendar.