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Calendar 2023

Twelve paintings for the 2023 calendar of the MPA. All sold as fundraisers for the association. Prof. Gorg Mallia also created a digital drawing, his interpretation of March. Scroll down to see front page and January page. 

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January

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year.  It is that we should have a new soul” 
G. K. CHESTERTON
English writer, philosopher, lay theologian,
and literary and art critic
(1874-1936).
January originates from the Latin Januarius, the month of Janus, the Roman god who presided over beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. Janus had two faces so he could look into the New Year while looking back at the previous year.
February
“February, bending from Heaven. In azure mirth, it kissed the  forehead of the Earth and smiled upon the silent sea, and bade the frozen streams be free, and waked to music all their fountains, and breathed upon the frozen mountains” 
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
One of the major English Romantic poets  and a radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views 
(1792-1822).
February comes from the Latin februarius, from februa. Lupercalia was a pastoral festival observed annually in ancient Rome on February 15 to purify the city and promote health and fertility. Lupercalia was also known as dies Februatus, after the purification instruments called februa, the basis for the month named Februarius.
March
“March is the Month of Expectation.
The things we do not know -
The Persons of prognostication
Are coming now”
EMILY DICKINSON
One of the most important figures in
American poetry
(1830-1886).
The name March is ultimately derived from the Latin word Martius named after Mars, the Roman god of war. Martius was the name of the first month in the original Roman calendar as this was the month when active military campaigns resumed. The Roman ruler Numa Pompilius (753-673 BC) is traditionally credited with adding January and February to the calendar, relegating March to its third place. Some cultures and religions still celebrate the start of the new year on March 1.



April
“With the coming of spring, I am calm again”
GUSTAV MAHLER
Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer,  one of the leading conductors of his generation 
(1860-1911).
April is rooted in the Latin Aprilis, which is derived from the Latin aperire meaning “to open”. The name may therefore be related to and reference the opening or blossoming of flowers and trees, a common occurrence throughout the month of April in the Northern Hemisphere.
May
“Now is the month of maying,
When merry lads are playing . . .
Each with his bonny lass
Upon the greeny grass.
Fa la la la la la la la la”
THOMAS MORLEY
English composer, theorist, singer  and organist of the Renaissance 
(1557-1602).
May (Latin: Maius) may have been named for the Greek goddess Maia, identified with the Roman goddess of fertility,  Bona Dea, whose festival was held in May. Alternatively, the Roman poet Ovid averred that the month of May is named for the maiores, Latin for “elders,” and that the following month (June) is named for the iuniores, or “young people”.
June
“Summer is a promissory note signed in June,  its long days spent and gone before you know it, and due to be repaid next January” 
HAL BORLAND
American author, journalist and naturalist
(1900-1978).
Ovid offers multiple origins for the name of this month, including after the name of the Roman goddess Juno,  the goddess of marriage Jupiter’s wife. Another alternative is that the name comes from the Latin word iuniores,  meaning “younger ones”, as opposed to maiores (“elders”) for which the preceding month May (Maius).
July
“July is a blind date with summer”
HAL BORLAND
American author, journalist and naturalist
(1900-1978).
July was named after Julius Caesar in 44 bce. Its original name was Quintilis, Latin for the “fifth month,”  indicating its position in the early Roman calendar which started the year in March.
August
“That August time it was delight  To watch the red moons wane to white” 
ALGERNON CHARLES
SWINBURNE
English poet, playwright, novelist and critic
(1837-1909).
August comes from the Latin word augustus for “consecrated” or “venerable,” which in turn is related to  the Latin augur, meaning “consecrated by augury” or “auspicious.” In 8 B.C. the Roman Senate honoured Augustus Caesar, the first Roman emperor, by changing the name of the month “Sextilis” to “Augustus.”
September
“All the months are crude experiments,
out of which the perfect September is made”
VIRGINIA WOOLF
English writer, considered one of the most  important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device 
(1882-1941).
September comes from the Latin septem,  meaning “seven” as this was the seventh month of the early Roman calendar.
October
“There is no season when such pleasant and  sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October” 
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
American novelist, dark romantic,  and short story writer whose works tended to focus on history, morality, and religion 
(1804-1864).
October comes from the Latin octo,  for “eight” as this was the eighth month of the early Roman calendar.
November
“Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are whirling fast.”
SARA COLERIDGE
English author and translator, the daughter of  the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his wife Sara Fricker 
(1802-1852).
November comes from the Latin novem,  for “nine” as this was the ninth month of the early Roman calendar.
December
“I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.
‘We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,’
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.”
OLIVER HERFORD
Anglo-American writer, artist, and illustrator
(1863-1935).
December comes from the Latin decem,  for “ten” as this was the tenth month of the early Roman calendar.
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March

Digital drawing, Prof. Gorg Mallia's interpretation of March.

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Front cover of calendar

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January - sample page

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With thanks to Ms. Mariella Scerri for proofing

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