The foreboding admonition from the soothsayer in William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar,” “Beware the Ides of March,” seems to have taken on yet another sinister layer of concern in recent years. Since the words were first written and performed (generally believed by historians to have been in 1599), they have become a familiar catchphrase warning of a looming catastrophe, something wicked lying ahead, and other, similar forecasts of doom.
So, what exactly are the ides of March? Julius Caesar created the “Julian” calendar, which consisted of four “long” months (March, May, July and October) each of which had 31 days. All the other months (considered “short” months) were made up of between 23 and 29 days. The Julian calendar was based upon the phases of the moon, of which there were three: The kalends, the nones and the ides. The kalends always occurred on the first day of each month, the nones on the fifth day of the shorter months or the seventh day of the longer months, and the ides were celebrated on the 13th or the 15th day during each of the four longer months.
There are varying opinions among historians as to whether the Julian calendar was based upon the phases of the moon or agriculture, on what days the kalends, nones and the ides were celebrated, as well as other bits of minutia which you might want to research yourself, in case Punxsutawney Phil (aka “The Groundhog”) saw his shadow on February 2 and scurried back into his underground den in shock for another six dark, cold weeks. Based on some of the frigid weather we’ve experienced thus far in 2026, quiet research in the warm comfort of one’s home sounds like a pretty good idea!
When Shakespeare penned “Julius Caesar,” England was at odds with most of Europe over its refusal to accept the Gregorian calendar (begun in 1582 utilized until 1752) over the Julian calendar.
It is generally accepted that the ides of March featured a full moon (seems that crazy things consistently expose themselves under the bright light of a full moon; again, there’s that familiar lunar connection with regard to the ides of March). The 15th of March also was a major festival honoring the might of the Roman military, thereby piling on even more drama to the untimely death of one of Rome’s greatest leaders.
Following Caesar’s execution in the Senate on that fateful 15th day of March, Rome was consumed in civil wars and the rise of Caesar’s adopted son, Octavian Augustus, who transformed the Republic into the beginning of Imperialism and the Roman Empire. From Shakespeare’s time till the present, this oft-repeated inauspicious phrase, the ides of March, “represents a warning against the dangers and possibilities of the concentrated power and the fragile path between popular rule and autocratic authority.”
And now we are in the month March, named to honor Mars, the Roman god of war. Ironically, March is the month from the Julian Calendar which brings with it a more pleasantly anticipated version of “March Madness.” Meanwhile, our magnificent nation is struggling. Not unlike the rise of the Roman Empire following Caesar’s execution and the civil unrest which followed, America is on the cusp of a potentially lethal downward spiral from history’s greatest country (warts and all) into something bearing little resemblance to the land that we have known and loved as it has evolved over the last 250 years. Our nation is teetering on the edge of a dangerous precipice, staring into a very dark abyss - our present-day ides of which we must beware. What has transpired throughout our country is a stark recognition of how deep and wide the chasm of our separation as fellow citizens has become.
Perhaps a beginning to the process of mending and healing the divisiveness under which we currently seem constantly to struggle just might be found in the words of author and spiritual teacher, Ram Dass. He and other artists, musicians and philosophers have also incorporated into their work a message of which we should all “be(a)ware” …
The wise ones know we’re in this together, and we’re all just walking each other home.
by Forde Kay
So, what exactly are the ides of March? Julius Caesar created the “Julian” calendar, which consisted of four “long” months (March, May, July and October) each of which had 31 days. All the other months (considered “short” months) were made up of between 23 and 29 days. The Julian calendar was based upon the phases of the moon, of which there were three: The kalends, the nones and the ides. The kalends always occurred on the first day of each month, the nones on the fifth day of the shorter months or the seventh day of the longer months, and the ides were celebrated on the 13th or the 15th day during each of the four longer months.
There are varying opinions among historians as to whether the Julian calendar was based upon the phases of the moon or agriculture, on what days the kalends, nones and the ides were celebrated, as well as other bits of minutia which you might want to research yourself, in case Punxsutawney Phil (aka “The Groundhog”) saw his shadow on February 2 and scurried back into his underground den in shock for another six dark, cold weeks. Based on some of the frigid weather we’ve experienced thus far in 2026, quiet research in the warm comfort of one’s home sounds like a pretty good idea!
When Shakespeare penned “Julius Caesar,” England was at odds with most of Europe over its refusal to accept the Gregorian calendar (begun in 1582 utilized until 1752) over the Julian calendar.
It is generally accepted that the ides of March featured a full moon (seems that crazy things consistently expose themselves under the bright light of a full moon; again, there’s that familiar lunar connection with regard to the ides of March). The 15th of March also was a major festival honoring the might of the Roman military, thereby piling on even more drama to the untimely death of one of Rome’s greatest leaders.
Following Caesar’s execution in the Senate on that fateful 15th day of March, Rome was consumed in civil wars and the rise of Caesar’s adopted son, Octavian Augustus, who transformed the Republic into the beginning of Imperialism and the Roman Empire. From Shakespeare’s time till the present, this oft-repeated inauspicious phrase, the ides of March, “represents a warning against the dangers and possibilities of the concentrated power and the fragile path between popular rule and autocratic authority.”
And now we are in the month March, named to honor Mars, the Roman god of war. Ironically, March is the month from the Julian Calendar which brings with it a more pleasantly anticipated version of “March Madness.” Meanwhile, our magnificent nation is struggling. Not unlike the rise of the Roman Empire following Caesar’s execution and the civil unrest which followed, America is on the cusp of a potentially lethal downward spiral from history’s greatest country (warts and all) into something bearing little resemblance to the land that we have known and loved as it has evolved over the last 250 years. Our nation is teetering on the edge of a dangerous precipice, staring into a very dark abyss - our present-day ides of which we must beware. What has transpired throughout our country is a stark recognition of how deep and wide the chasm of our separation as fellow citizens has become.
Perhaps a beginning to the process of mending and healing the divisiveness under which we currently seem constantly to struggle just might be found in the words of author and spiritual teacher, Ram Dass. He and other artists, musicians and philosophers have also incorporated into their work a message of which we should all “be(a)ware” …
The wise ones know we’re in this together, and we’re all just walking each other home.
by Forde Kay
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