Now have good day, now have good day!
I am Christmas, and now I go my way.
Here have I dwelt with more and less
From Hallowtide till Candlemas,
And now must I from you hence pass;
Now have good day!I take my leave of king and knight,
And earl, baron, and lady bright;
To wilderness I must me dight;
Now have good day!And of the good lord of this hall
I take my leave, and of guests all;
Methink I hear Lent doth call;
Now have good day!And from every worthy officer,
Marshall, panetere and butler,
I take my leave as for this year;
Now have good day!Another year I trust I shall
Make merry in this hall,
If rest and peace in England may fall;
Now have good day!But oftentimes I have heard say
That he is loath to part away
Who often biddeth “Have good day!”
Now have good day!Now fare ye well, all in fere;
Now fare ye well for all this year;
Yet for my sake make ye good cheer;
Now have good day!— Medieval English Candlemas Carol
Summer is at last making way for September, and I would be lying if I said I was unhappy. Now, it has been a very pleasant holiday, to be sure. I came back to Los Angeles, saw old friends, went to two weddings (one in South Carolina), toured the Province of Alberta, Canada, and wrote a good bit. Now the day of my return to Austria is looming – not a bad time at all (despite a two-week-long flu!).
But I must admit that ever since I left high school, summer with its heat – whether dry, as in California, or humid, as in New York and Austria – has been something primarily to be endured, despite the haunting strains of The Wild Mountain Thyme, much as I love that song. I wear seersucker and a boater, eat a lot of salads and chilled soups, and enjoy barbecues, bonfires and fireworks as much as anyone. But it is still to be got through, rather than an actual enjoyment for its own sake.
But then, at last, September arrives, and with it, autumn. In days gone by in America, the last weekend of summer featured a bonfire of straw Panama hats. White linen and seersucker were banished after Labour Day – the first Monday in September – not to be seen again until Memorial Day the following May. Autumn not only began the new school year, but also faintly presaged the coming period of celebration – Halloween at the end of October, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day in the mid-20th-century United States; ‘Hallowtide to Christmas’, with Christmas ending at Candlemas in the medieval iteration.