Like so many words in our native language, we generally don’t think about where they come from and what their meaning and, perhaps, true spirit is. Take a look at the words for “to open” and “April” in a couple of romance languages: aprire/aprile (Italian), abrir/abril (Spanish/Portuguese). Notice that the letters p and b are a similar mouth movement.  When you move to French you have ouvrir/avril so as we move north, we move to a different position with the v, which is related to f and brings us to öffnen (German), where the month is April (freebie for us!). Go west and we go back to p: openen/april (Dutch) and you see where this is going…..open/April!

As with the origins of most months, the Gods were the inspiration and April is likely not an exception. Veneralia, the Roman celebration of Venus, was celebrated on the first of the month (no relation to April Fool’s Day). The thought is that the month was named after her counterpart Aphrillis a.k.a. Aphrodite or Aphros in Greek or Apru in Estruscan.

So as we move into spring, and the flowers bloom (if this winter ever ends!) let’s make it a month of openness and expansion!