The time we know call "Michaelmas" may have started as a Celtic observance, but was "re-branded" so to speak by the Catholic church and named for St. Michael the Archangel to get people's minds off their pagan traditions. Because the Church was practically the only entity keeping a calendar, many common events were tied to Michaelmas (food traditions, planting, harvests, etc) as well as the settling of debts. At Fisheaters.com I found this -- "Today is also one of the 4 English "Quarter Days," days which fall around the Equinoxes or Solstices and mark the beginnings of new natural seasons (i.e., Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall) and which were used in medieval times to mark "quarters" for legal purposes, such as settling debts. The other days like this are: Lady Day (the Feast of the Annunciation) on March 25, the Feast of St. John on June 24, and Christmas on December 25."
The time we know call "Michaelmas" may have started as a Celtic observance, but was "re-branded" so to speak by the Catholic church and named for St. Michael the Archangel to get people's minds off their pagan traditions. Because the Church was practically the only entity keeping a calendar, many common events were tied to Michaelmas (food traditions, planting, harvests, etc) as well as the settling of debts. At Fisheaters.com I found this -- "Today is also one of the 4 English "Quarter Days," days which fall around the Equinoxes or Solstices and mark the beginnings of new natural seasons (i.e., Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall) and which were used in medieval times to mark "quarters" for legal purposes, such as settling debts. The other days like this are: Lady Day (the Feast of the Annunciation) on March 25, the Feast of St. John on June 24, and Christmas on December 25."