August 2014

1. August (Listeni/ˈɔːɡəst/ AW-gəst) is the eighth month of the year (between July and September) in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and one of seven months with a length of 31 days.
2. August's birthstones are the peridot and sardonyx.
3. August's birth flower is the gladiolus or poppy, meaning beauty, strength of character, love, marriage and family.
4. The zodiac signs for the month of August are Leo (until August 22) and Virgo (from August 23 onwards).
5. In the neopagan wheel of the year August begins at or near Lughnasadh (also known as Lammas) in the northern hemisphere and Imbolc (also known as Candlemas) in the southern hemisphere.
6. This month was originally named Sextili in Latin, because it was the sixth month in the original ten-month Roman calendar under Romulus in 753 BC, when March was the first month of the year.
7. About 700 BC it became the eighth month when January and February were added to the year before March by King Numa Pompilius, who also gave it 29 days.
8. Julius Caesar added two days when he created the Julian calendar in 45 BC giving it its modern length of 31 days.
9. In 8 BC it was renamed in honor of Augustus (despite common belief, he did not take a day from February). According to a Senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, he chose this month because it was the time of several of his great triumphs, including the conquest of Egypt.
10. For the Chinese, the seventh month of the lunar year (which usually falls on the month of August in the Julian calendar) is the time when the gods open the Gates of Hell and allow the spirits, usually confined to the underworld, to roam on earth among the living. Known as the Month of the Hungry Ghosts or the Ghost Month, it is a period when people honor the dead by offering food, prayers, burnt incense and paper hell-notes to appease these roaming spirits. The month is also viewed by many Chinese as an inauspicious month to start anything, whether be marriage, moving houses, opening businesses or starting new investments. Thus, regional stock markets, especially those with predominantly Chinese investors, experience relatively lower volume and usually falter during this period.
11. In addition, this is also the period when most European and American fund managers take their vacations during the dog days of summer. Named in early times by people in the Mediterranean to describe the period when Sirius (the dog Star) comes into conjunction with the Sun, the dog days of summer refers to the hottest phase of the year.
12. August 2014 - 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays & 5 Sundays

Screenshot from http://chinesenewyearday.com/ChineseGhostMonth.htm

References:

August
August 2014 Calendar
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