August

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Eighth month in the Julian and Gregorian calendars

title: "August" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["august", "months", "augustus"] description: "Eighth month in the Julian and Gregorian calendars" topic_path: "general/august" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Eighth month in the Julian and Gregorian calendars ::

::callout[type=note] the month ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Reeve_and_Serfs.jpg" caption="Depiction of [[harvesting]] in the August calendar page of the [[Queen Mary Psalter]] (fol. 78v), ca. 1310"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/08_August_-Percent_of_global_area_at_temperature_records-Global_warming-_NOAA.svg" caption="publisher=National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) }} Link is an example for one month; for other months, change the "202501" in the preceding URL to '''yyyymm''', where '''yyyy''' is the four-digit year and '''mm''' is the two-digit month (01=January through 12=December)"] ::

August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days.

In the Southern Hemisphere, August falls in winter. In the Northern Hemisphere, August falls in summer. In many European countries, August is the holiday month for most workers. Numerous religious holidays occurred during August in ancient Rome.

Certain meteor showers take place in August. The Kappa Cygnids occur in August, with yearly dates varying. The Alpha Capricornids meteor shower occurs as early as July 10 and ends around August 10. The Southern Delta Aquariids occur from mid-July to mid-August, with the peak usually around July 28–29. The Perseids, a major meteor shower, typically takes place between July 17 and August 24, with the peak days varying yearly. The star cluster of Messier 30 is best observed around August.

Among the aborigines of the Canary Islands, especially among the Guanches of Tenerife, the month of August received the name of Beñesmer or Beñesmen, which was also the harvest festival held that month.

The month was originally named Sextilis in Latin because it was the 6th month in the original ten-month Roman calendar under Romulus in 753 BC, with March being the first month of the year. About 700 BC, it became the eighth month when January and February were added to the year before March by King Numa Pompilius, who also gave it 29 days. Julius Caesar added two days when he created the Julian calendar in , giving it its modern length of 31 days.

In 8 BC, the month was renamed in honor of Emperor Augustus. According to a Senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, he chose this month because it was the time of several of his great triumphs, including the conquest of Egypt. Commonly repeated lore has it that August has 31 days because Augustus wanted his month to match the length of Julius Caesar's July, but this is an invention of the 13th century scholar Johannes de Sacrobosco. Sextilis had 31 days before it was renamed. It was not chosen for its length.

Symbols

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Gladiolus_imbricatus1002.jpg" caption="[[Gladiolus"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Peridot-China.jpg" caption="[[Peridot]] gemstones" alt="Peridot gemstones"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Sardonyx_Inscription.JPG" caption="[[Sardonyx]] stone" alt="Sardonyx stone"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Spinel-Calcite-258747.jpg" caption="Red [[spinel]] on [[calcite" alt="Red spinel on calcite"] ::

August's birthstones are the peridot, sardonyx, and spinel.

Its birth flower is the gladiolus or poppy, meaning beauty, strength of character, love, marriage and family. The Western zodiac signs are Leo (until August 22) and Virgo (from August 23 onward).

Observances

This list does not necessarily imply official status or general observance.

Non-Gregorian: {{CURRENTYEAR}} dates

(All Baha'i, Islamic, and Jewish observances begin at sundown before the listed date and end at sundown on the date in question unless otherwise noted.)

Month-long

  • Women's Month (South Africa)
  • American Adventures Month (celebrates vacationing in the Americas)
  • Children's Eye Health and Safety Month
  • Digestive Tract Paralysis (DTP) Month
  • Get Ready for Kindergarten Month
  • Happiness Happens Month
  • Month of Philippine Languages or Buwan ng Wika (Philippines)
  • Neurosurgery Outreach Month
  • Psoriasis Awareness Month
  • Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month
  • What Will Be Your Legacy Month

United States month-long

  • National Black Business Month
  • National Children's Vision and Learning Month
  • National Immunization Awareness Month
  • National Princess Peach Month
  • National Water Quality Month
  • National Win with Civility Month
Food months in the United States

Moveable Gregorian

Second to last Sunday in July and the following two weeks

1st Saturday

1st Sunday

First full week of August

  • National Farmer's Market Week (United States)

1st Monday

1st Tuesday

1st Friday

2nd Saturday

Sunday on or closest to August 9

2nd Sunday

2nd Monday

2nd Tuesday

3rd Saturday

3rd Sunday

3rd Monday

3rd Friday

Last Thursday

Last Sunday

Last Monday

Last Friday

Fixed Gregorian

References

References

  1. "Mean Monthly Temperature Records Across the Globe". National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
  2. "August {{!}} month {{!}} Britannica".
  3. [[Supplicia canum]] was held on August 3, [[Lychnapsia]] on August 12, [[Nemoralia]] was held from August 13–15 (or on the full moon of August), [[Tiberinalia]] and [[Portunus (mythology). Portumnalia]] on August 17, [[Consualia. Consuales Ludi]] on August 18, [[Vinalia. Vinalia rustica]] on August 19, [[Vulcan (mythology)#Vulcanalia. Vulcanalia]] on August 23, [[Opiconsivia]] on August 25, and [[Volturnalia]] on August 27. These dates do not correspond to the modern Gregorian calendar.
  4. Abréu Galindo, Juan de. (1848). "Historia de la conquista de las siete islas de Gran Canaria". Imprenta, Litografía y Librería Isleña.
  5. Torriani, Leonardo. (1959). "Descripción e historia del reino de las Islas Canarias: antes Afortunadas, con el parecer de sus fortificaciones". Goya Ediciones.
  6. (May 16, 2014). "Keeping Time: Months and the Modern Calendar".
  7. "Year of Julius Caesar, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin, Ed.".
  8. Lamont, Roscoe. (1919). "The Roman calendar and its reformation by Julius Caesar".
  9. Nothaft, C. Philipp E.. (2018). "Scandalous Error: Calendar Reform and Calendrical Astronomy in Medieval Europe". Oxford University Press.
  10. "Why the American Gem Society".
  11. [https://archive.today/20120911093344/http://www.shgresources.com/gems/birthflowers/ Birth months, flowers, and gemstones], shgresources.com
  12. The Earth passes the junction of the signs at 15:44 UT/GMT August 22, 2020. It will pass again at 21:34 UT/GMT on August 22, 2021.
  13. "Astrology Calendar".
  14. (August 2022). "American Adventures Month".
  15. "Children's Eye Health and Safety Month".
  16. "Online Events".
  17. "August is Get Ready for Kindergarten Month!".
  18. "Celebrating Filipino Language and Culture".
  19. "AANS".
  20. "Psoriasis Awareness Month – Take Action, One Day at a Time – National Psoriasis Foundation".
  21. "Cure SMA – Home".
  22. "12th annual National Black Business Month". National Black Business Month.
  23. "August is Vision & Learning Month – College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD)".
  24. "National Immunization Awareness Month – NIAM – CDC".
  25. (August 8, 2014). "August Is Officially Princess Peach Month, According To Nintendo Of America".
  26. "August is National Water Quality Month". GoodSpeaks.
  27. "MHprofessional.com".
  28. "Food Days, Weeks, Months – August". [[University of Nebraska–Lincoln]].
  29. Bober, Mike. [http://www.dcfoodies.com/2008/08/celebrate-natio.html Celebrate National Goat Cheese Month with Local Favorites], dcfoodies.com
  30. (August 20, 2012). "Why Is National Panini Month In August?". Food Republic.
  31. "National Science Week 2020".
  32. https://www.barchart.com/story/news/35736774/ugly-potato-day-2026-a-growing-tradition-at-the-cloverdale-agriplex

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

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