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Michaelmas

Time And Calendar
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Michaelmas is the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, observed on 29 September, and is often used in poetry as a traditional seasonal date marking early autumn.

Detailed Definition
In British tradition, Michaelmas falls on 29 September and was one of the four quarterly “term days” used for rents, hiring servants, beginning leases, and other legal or agricultural arrangements. In poetry, it can function as a precise calendar reference while also suggesting autumn, harvest time, seasonal change, and the passing of years. Because it is an older customary date, the word may give a poem a historical, rural, or traditional English atmosphere.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Amy Levy’s “Twilight,” the speaker says: “And Robert died at Michaelmas, And Walter died last year.” Here, “at Michaelmas” means around 29 September. The specific traditional date places Robert’s death in the recent autumn and contrasts with “last night” and “last year,” creating a sequence of losses measured across different spans of time.
Additional Notes
The name comes from “Michael’s Mass,” a religious service honoring Saint Michael the Archangel. Michaelmas is celebrated on 29 September in Western Christian calendars. In England and other parts of Britain, it was historically associated with harvest customs, goose feasts, settling debts, and the start of certain school, legal, and agricultural terms. Related traditional quarter days in England include Lady Day (25 March), Midsummer Day (24 June), and Christmas Day (25 December). Do not treat “Michaelmas” simply as a synonym for autumn: it names a particular feast day, though poets may use it to evoke the wider early-autumn season.
Other Meanings of “Michaelmas”
Also Known As
Feast of St Michael Michaelmas Day Autumn Quarter Day Michaelmas Tide
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