Dog days

The dog days or are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius (known colloquially as the "Dog Star"), which Hellenistic astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck. They are now taken to be the hottest, most uncomfortable part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Etymology

thumb|right|200px|In addition to following [[Orion (constellation)|Orion into the night sky, the Dog Star Sirius can be easily located in the heavens by following the line created by the prominent asterism Orion's Belt.]]

The English name is a calque of the Latin (), itself a calque of the ancient Greek (). The Greeks knew the star α Canis Majoris by several names, including Sirius "Scorcher" (, Seírios), Sothis (, Sôthis, a transcription of Egyptian Spdt), and the Dog Star (, Kúōn). The last name reflects the way Sirius follows the constellation Orion into the night sky.

In Swedish, the dog days are called rötmånaden and mätäkuu in Finnish. Both names mean "rot month". The names stem from the fact that food spoils easily when left out in the heat, and wounds are more likely to get infected and secrete pus during the warm summer months.

History

Sirius is by far the brightest proper star in the night sky, which caused ancient astronomers to take note of it around the world. In Egypt, its return to the night sky became known as a precursor to the annual flooding of the Nile and was worshipped as the goddess Sopdet. In Greece, it became known as the precursor of the unpleasantly hot phase of the summer. Greek poets even recorded the belief that the return of the bright star was responsible for bringing heat and fever with it; it was also associated with sudden thunderstorms. In Homer's Iliad, probably composed in the but representing an earlier tradition, Achilles's approach toward Troy, where he would slay Hector, is illustrated through an extended metaphor about the baleful effects attending the return of Sirius:

The rising of Sirius during this period has been calculated as 19 July (Julian). Writing about the same time, Hesiod considered the worst and hottest part of the summer to be the days before Sirius returned to the night sky. During this period, Sirius was invisible from the earth but it was apparently understood to still be in the sky, augmenting the power of the sun:

thumb|right|200px|Vegetation on [[Crete dried out by the August heat]]

This effect of the combination of Sirius' light with the Sun's was understood to have an effect on plants, animals, and women, as well as men:

About a century later, Alcaeus repeated the theme, advising his listeners to "steep your lungs in wine" before the arrival of the star since "women are at their foulest but men are weak since they are parched in head and knees". In the 3rd century, Aratus' Phenomena describes the time as Sirius blighting the bark of trees with its heat during the time it rises and sets with the sun.

The Kean priests of Zeus as Rainmaker and Lord of Moisture observed annual sacrifices before the rise of Sirius to prevent scorching drought. This practice was credited to the culture hero Aristaeus. Aristotle mentions the proverbial heat of the dog days as part of his argument against an early formulation of evolution in his Physics.

thumb|right|200px|A 9th-century astronomical manuscript, including an illustration of the [[constellation "Canis Major"]]

The Romans continued to blame Sirius for the heat of the season and attendant lethargy and diseases. In his Georgics, Vergil notes vintners' efforts to protect their work during the time "when the Dog-star cleaves the thirsty Ground". Seneca's Oedipus complains of "the scorching dog-star's fires". Pliny's Natural History notes an increase in attacks by dogs during July and August, and advises feeding them chicken manure to curb the tendency. In the early 20th century, historians still noted the "discouraging heat" and "oppression" of the dog days of the Roman summer.

The period has long featured in western medicine. The 1564 English Hope of Health counseled that purging (bloodletting and induced vomiting) should be avoided during the "Dogge daies" of summer because "the Sunne is in Leo" and "then is nature burnt vp & made weake". The 1729 British Husbandman's Practice claimed that "The Heat of the Sun is so violent that Men's bodies at Midnight sweat as at Midday: and if they be hurt, they be more sick than at any other time, yea very near Dead". It therefore advised men to "abstain all this time from women" and to "take heed of feeding violently". In the 1813 Clavis Calendria, the dog days are a time wherein "the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, Quinto raged with anger, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies".

thumb|right|200px|"Some Popular Alleviations of the Dog Days in Hotter New-York" in 1904, including children piled into a public fountain "when the 'cop' is not looking".

Even after astrology and its influence on health and agriculture waned in importance, the "dog days" continues to be vaguely applied to the hottest days of the summer, with its attendant effects on nature and society. In North America, it became proverbial among farmers that a dry growing season through the dog days was preferable to the trouble of a wet one:

| <blockquote>Dog days bright and clear<br>Indicate a good year;<br>But when accompanied by rain,<br>We hope for better times in vain.</blockquote>

Because July is typically one of the quietest months of the year for stock trading, the term is sometimes used for the lethargic summer markets.

Span

Various computations of the dog days have placed their start anywhere from 3 July to 15 August and lasting for anywhere from 30 to 61 days. They were removed from the prayer books at the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and their term shortened to the time between July 19 and August 20. During the British adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, they were shifted from July 30 to September 7. although that research remains unverified.

In popular culture

thumb|right|200px|[[Harry Clarke's 1917 illustration of Synge's poem]]

It is possible that Saint Roch, the legendary medieval patron saint of dogs celebrated by the Catholic Church on 16 August, owes some of his legacy to the dog days. From the period of his self-proclaimed protectorate over the island, the Danish adventurer Jørgen Jørgensen is remembered in Iceland as Jørgen the Dog-Day King ().

In western literature, apart from the Greek and Roman works mentioned above, the dog days appear in John Webster's 1613 play The Duchess of Malfi, Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, R.H. Davis's 1903 short story "The Bar Sinister", J.M. Synge's 1909 poem "Queens", and Richard Adams's 1972 novel Watership Down. They feature in the children's novels Tuck Everlasting (1973), and Dog Days (2009) from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

Dog Days is also the title of a Japanese anime series that premiered in 2011. The story revolves around a boy named Shinku Izumi, who is summoned to an alternate world where the inhabitants have animal ears and tails.

In film, Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and (German for "Dog Days"; 2001) evoke their oppressive seasonal settings. The 2010 videogame Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days utilizes the term to a similar effect.

In music, there are Head of David's "Dog Day Sunrise", covered by Fear Factory in 1995; Florence and the Machine's 2009 "Dog Days Are Over"; and Within Temptation's 2013 "Dog Days"; as well as the album Dog Days by the US southern rock band Atlanta Rhythm Section; in the title track from Taylor Swift's 2020 album Evermore, Bon Iver, who is featured on the song, mentions "the violence of the dog days".

Dog Days is also the title of a 2012 opera by composer David T. Little and librettist Royce Vavrek, based on the short story by Judy Budnitz.

"Dog-day" promotions are also a common feature in baseball, used by American ballparks to boost ticket sales during mid-afternoon games.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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, excerpted by the University of Toronto Library.
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, reprinted in 1914 as Vol. XLVII, Pt. 4, of the Harvard Classics series.