Michaelmas | Feast Day, Harvest, Autumn (2024)

Michaelmas, Christian feast of St. Michael the Archangel, celebrated in the Western churches on September 29. Given St. Michael’s traditional position as leader of the heavenly armies, veneration of all angels was eventually incorporated into his feast day. In the Roman Catholic Church, Michaelmas is now more commonly celebrated as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the archangels; in the Anglican Church, its proper name is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. The Eastern (Orthodox) Church does not observe Michaelmas and celebrates the archangels on November 8.

The veneration of St. Michael—typically regarded as the greatest of the archangels and a mighty defender of the church against Satan—began in the Eastern Church in the 4th century and had spread to Western Christianity by the 5th century. The feast date of May 8 commemorates the dedication of a sanctuary to St. Michael at Monte Gargano in Italy in the 6th century. Michaelmas was originally celebrated as a Holy Day of Obligation, but that requirement was gradually abolished.

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During the Middle Ages, Michaelmas was a great religious feast and many popular traditions grew up around the day, which coincided with the harvest in much of western Europe. In England it was the custom to eat goose on Michaelmas, which was supposed to protect against financial need for the next year. In Ireland, finding a ring hidden in a Michaelmas pie meant that one would soon be married.