It’s time for la rentrée!
Summer days are over in the Northern hemisphere and temperatures are beginning to dip. The new academic year starts, children head back to school while parents begin to settle down to the humdrum of office life once again. It is “la rentrée”, so say the French.
Now, do you know that September was actually not the ninth, but the seventh month of the original Roman calendar? If you speak French, you might have already guessed it because the word “Sept” means “seven”, from the Latin word “septem”. Only after January and February were added, September became the ninth month as we know it today on our modern-day 12-months Gregorian calendar!
This month, while the Germans will kick-start their Oktoberfest in Munich on the third Saturday (22nd), those with Chinese heritage will celebrate the Mid-Autumn (also known as Moon Cake) festival on the 24th (it is the 15th day of the 8th month on the Chinese lunar calendar)! With the European Day of Languages on the 26th and World Tourism Day on the 27th, there is surely much to celebrate for diversity of our world this month! By the way, do you know that there are about 225 indigenous languages in Europe?