Hretha is often separated from Hrethmonath, the third month of the Anglo-Saxon calendar, corresponding to March, as reported by Bede, writing in De Tempore Ratione 725 ("On the Reckoning of Time"), Ch. xv, "The English months":
- "In olden times the English people— for it did not seem fitting to me that I should speak of other nations' observance of the year and yet be silent about my own nation's— calculated their months according to the course of the Moon. Hence, after the manner of the Greeks and the Romans, [the months] take their name from the Moon, for the moon is called mona and each month monath.
- "The first month, which the Latins call January, is Giuli; February is called Solmonath; March Hrethmonath; April, Eosturmonath [...etc.]"
Bede tells that it was "named from their goddess Hretha, whom they sacrificed to in that month". Hretha signifies "fame", and Hrethel, or Hreğel was the king of the Geats, in Beowulf. Such a name for a warrior is very widespread among European peoples: cf. for example the Greek name Etiocles.
A variant of Hrethmonath was Hyldmonath.
Modern Neopagan fakelore incorrectly makes of Hreth a personalized goddess of winter [1].
J.R.R. Tolkien adapted Hrethmonath for his "Shire-reckoning" in The Lord of the Rings[2]
External link
Further reading
- Wallis, Faith (translator) 1999. Bede: The Reckoning of Time (Liverpool University Press).
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