The woods never look more beautiful than from the close of last month to the middle of October, for by that time it seems as if nature had exhausted all her choicest colours on the foliage. We see the rich, burnished bronze of the oak; red of many hues, up to the gaudiest scarlet; every shade of yellow, from the wan gold of the primrose to the deep orange of the tiger-lily . . . and all so blended and softened together in parts, that like the colours on a dove’s neck, we cannot tell where one begins and the other ends.
Chambers Book of Days (1864)
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October, the tenth month of the year, was the eighth month of the Roman calendar. Its name is derived from the Latin octo, eight. The Anglo Saxons called it Wynmonath (‘wind month’) and Winterfyllith, the month of the winter moon. The Irish-Gaelic name Deireadh Fomhair, means ‘end of autumn’. In Welsh it is Hydref – the month of autumn, and in Gaelic-An Domhais – the month of deer rutting.
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If in October you do marry
Love will come but riches tarry.
Drunk or sober,
Sow wheat in October
A good October and a good blast
To blow the hog, acorn and mast.
Married when leaves in October thin,
Toil and hardship for you begin/
For every fog in October, a snow in the winter, heavy or light according as the fog is heavy or light.
In October dung your field
And your land its wealth shall yield.
A warm October presages a cold February.
As the weather is in October, so it will be next March.
Where the wind is at Hollantide (Hallowe’en) the season of All Saints, it will be most of the winter.
If the October moon comes without frost, expect no frost till the full moon of November.
October hath always
One and twenty fine days.
An October bride is fair of face and affectionate, but she is also jealous.
If the deer’s coat is grey in October, there will be a severe winter.
If the October moon appears with the points of her crescent up the month will be dry; if down, wet.
If during the fall of leaves in October many leaves remain hanging and wither on the bough, a frosty winter with much snow will follow.
Much rain in October, much wind in December.
A warm October, a cold February.