Blotmonath, the month of offerings

Printed under 1 November · England

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The heathen English called November Blotmonath, the month of sacrifices, because in it they vowed to their gods the cattle they were about to kill. Bede gave this as the last of the old English months, and closed the chapter by thanking Christ for turning the English from such empty rites.

Blot-monath mensis immolationum, quia in ea pecora quæ occisuri erant, Diis suis voverent.

From Bede's De Temporum Ratione, ch. 15, ed. Giles, vol. 6, p. 179. Read the original

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