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The Revolutionary Calendar
Vendémiaire (vintage): to effloresce the passions
that lie in the hearts of men and women
alone or together;
Brumaire (fog): to shield us gently from the details
that sometimes need to be obscured;
Frimaire (sleet): to sting us into waking
from our torpor;
Nivôse (snow): to remind us of the passage of time
piling slowly and steadily upon itself;
Pluviôse (rain): to wash away the old and give
nourishment to the new;
Ventôse (wind): to bring us the united breath of all
plants animals and rocks;
Germinal (seed): to immotalize what lived and
helped to live then passed away;
Floréal (blossom): to show us the beauty of life
for the sake of its own capricious beauty;
Praisal (pasture): to offer proof of the dependency of
the living upon the dead;
Messidor (harvest): to reward the faithful for their
belief in the soil;
Thermidor (heat): to stir the blood and sap that was
born in the sun;
Fructidor (fruit): to fulfill our dreams of the simple
luxury of all nature.
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