Discover meaning, history and folklore behind “Ember Days”

Four times a year, somewhere, you may hear or read something about the so-called “Ember Days”, or quarter tense, in Ireland.
But what are they? When do they occur?
And how are they observed? Learn more about the history, meaning, and folklore surrounding Ember Days and how they are observed in Western Christian churches.

Well, at first, Ember Days occur four times a year, they coincide with the four seasons and present an opportunity to embrace the practices of prayer, fasting, and abstinence and for the ordination of clergy to occur.
Basically, each set is a way to give thanks for specific natural gifts, like the increase in daylight and the harvest times of wheat, grapes, and olives.
The term itself is thought to be a corruption of the Latin “quatuor tempora”, meaning, not by chance, “four times.”
There are a total of 12 Ember Days each year, observed on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays following the first Sunday in Lent, Whitsunday-Pentecost, the Feast of the Holy Cross, and the Feast of St. Lucia.
While the first Sunday in Lent and Whitsunday-Pentecost change each year based on Easter, the Feast of the Holy Cross and the Feast of St. Lucia are fixed dates, on September 14 and December 13, respectively.
In 2025, for example, they are observed on March 12, 14, and 15, June 11, 13, and 14, September 17, 19, and 20, and December 17, 19, and 20.

It is believed that Ember Days observances date back to the time of Pope Leo I in the 5th century, when observers would thank God for the gifts of nature, embrace those gifts in moderation, and assist the needy.
They began in Rome with fasts in June, September, and December, but the days were not fixed, while it seems fourth set of days were added near the end of the 5th century.
At that time, the conferring of ordinations was permitted on ember Saturdays, while previously, the practice was only held at Easter. Pope Gregory VII expanded their observance, making it a large part of the Catholic faith.
It is also said that Ember Days may have been created in response to the excessive celebrations that surrounded the pagan festivals in Rome, and they can be thought of as a mini-Lent, with some fasting and abstinence to refocus spiritual beliefs. In fact, at the time, some practiced “parallel folk religion” in addition to formal religion, rooted in pre-Christian and medieval practice, and was at times discouraged by educated clergy of the Lutheran and Reformed churches.
In any case, on these days, observers traditionally fast as they would on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, except that they are allowed to eat meat as part of their main meal on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

According to popular folklore, the weather on each Ember Day foretells the weather for the next 3 months.
For example, in September, the Wednesday forecasts the weather for October, Friday predicts November, and Saturday foretells December.
In the folk meteorology of the North of Spain, the weather of the ember days (témporas) is considered to predict the weather of the rest of the year, while the prediction methods differ in the regions.
The most frequent one is wind-based, as the season after the ember days will have as a prevailing wind the prevailing one during the ember days (with some just consider the wind at midnight), and that wind usually has an associated weather. Hence, if the southern wind brings dry air and clear skies, a southern wind during the winter embers forecasts a dry winter.
But also Pennsylvania Dutch proverbs and sayings have a deep connection to these daya, including the one that says that persons born on Ember Days can see ghosts, or that washing on an Ember Day is unlucky.
Moreover, grain will be high in price if the Ember Days come late in the month, and rain on an Ember Day is followed by 3 weeks of rain!

There are also a collection of other sayings and proverbs that relate to these daya, and the Wednesday of each “Embertide” was noted in the almanac used by families to guide their growing cycles and farm activities.
For example:
– If you wash on the Wednesday nearest an Emberday and are taken sick, you will never get well.
– You must not butcher beef on an Ember day but you may cut it up.
– Never cure meat on an Ember day.
– Never slaughter any cattle on an Ember day.
– If you wash on an Ember day a head of cattle will die.
– If you do washing on an Ember day none of your cattle will die before the next Ember day.
– As many cattle will die during the year as are slaughtered on any Ember day.

There is also a Latin mnemonic which allowed people to remember the occurrence of Ember Days throughout the year:

“Dat crux Lucia cineres charismata dia
quod sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.”

Or similar old English rhyme:
“Fasting days and Emberings be
Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie.”

“Lenty, Penty, Crucy, Lucy” is a shorter mnemonic for when they fall, and the ember days began on the Wednesday immediately following those days.
Other regulations prevailed in different countries, until the inconveniences arising from the want of uniformity led to the rule now observed being laid down under Pope Urban II as the law of the church, at the Council of Piacenza and the Council of Clermont, 1095.
Either way it is interesting how, in oral tradition, proverbs may become contradictory, even within the same county.
So, should I wash on Quatember or not?!
In any case, everyone seems agreed about the price of grain benefitting from Ember Days late in a month, and about weather…more or less.