Just checked & no mention of #QuarterDays, so time for a #nerdout
Back in the early 2000s I was proof-reading commercial leases: office space & small businesses including many fish & chip shops.
I had to make my own fun to maintain focus (fish & chip shop names aside). I soon learned that almost all these modern business leases stated that rent was to be paid quarterly - fair enough, I thought. But:
'on the standard Quarter Days'
FYI these are 25 March, 24 June, 29 September, 25 December.
Why these precise dates?
Because there's a very long tradition of paying rent on the Quarter Days, said my boss.
I knew from my time as a historical re-enactor (specialist period 1460-1485), these were four major religious feast days of the Church, so there'd be regular reminders.
So, on this #Michaelmas #MichaelmasDay all kinds of businesses are paying their rent on a feast day fallen into desuetude, wondering 'why today' & receiving that most unhelpful response, 'because we always have'.
@ivyfox also still the main date for agricultural rents.
There's also a neat way to remember them!
Catherine Rowan Jones
Jessica S