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History of March: What’s the Background, What’s it got to do with Narcissus?

Bill Petro
3 min readMar 1, 2022

The month that can come in “like a lion and out like a lamb” is named after Mars, the Roman god of war (and agriculture). Indeed, in French, the month is called Mars. March, or Martius as it was known in ancient Rome, is the first month of Spring. It is considered a favorable season for travel, planting, or beginning a military campaign.

March 1 in the Northern hemisphere marks the beginning of the meteorological Spring and was the original New Year’s Day of Rome until at least 153 B.C. when it was changed to December or January under different Roman rulers.

Some parts of Europe continued to use March as the beginning of the year until the 16th century and Great Britain and her colonies into the 18th century when the West changed the calendar from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.

March Holidays

Following the liturgical church calendar in the West, March may be host to “movable” pre-Lent holidays like Shrove Monday, Mardi Gras, and Ash Wednesday, or they could occur as early as February. If the first full moon happens on or after March 21, Good Friday and Easter may occur in March.

The Ides of March, St. Patrick’s Day, and the Vernal Equinox are “fixed” to this month. Italian holidays, like St

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Bill Petro
Bill Petro

Written by Bill Petro

Historian, technologist, blogger/podcaster. Former Silicon Valley tech exec. Author of articles on history, tech, pop culture, & travel. https://billpetro.com

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