[5] In the Christian angelology of some traditions, the Archangel Michael is considered as the greatest of all the angels; being particularly honored for defeating the devil in the war in heaven.

Hence the rhyme: "The Michaelmas daisies, among dead weeds, Bloom for St Michael's valorous deeds ..."[11] In Ireland, (Irish: Fómhar na nGéanna), pilgrimages to holy wells associated with St Michael took place, with pilgrims taking a drink from the holy water from the well.

In Tramore, County Waterford, a procession with an effigy of St Michael, called the Micilín, was brought through the town to the shore to mark the end of the fishing season.

[14] One association of geese with Michaelmas comes from a legend in which the son of an Irish king choked on a goose bone he had eaten, and was then brought back to life by St. Patrick.

There were differing methods across Ireland for cooking the goose, most generally using a heavy iron pot on an open hearth.

This falls apart when the date (geese and Michaelmas were connected at least a century earlier, if not longer) and the timing of the battle (August) are considered.

[16] In remembrance of absent friends or those who had died, special Struans, blessed at an early morning Mass, were given to the poor in their names.

It is said that when St. Michael expelled the devil, Lucifer, from heaven, he fell from the skies and landed in a prickly blackberry bush.

Satan cursed the fruit, scorched them with his fiery breath, stamped, spat, and urinated on them, so that they would be unfit for eating.

[A][21][22][23][24][25][26] Michaelmas is used in the extended sense of autumn, as the name of the first term of the academic year, which begins at this time, at various educational institutions in the United Kingdom, Ireland and those parts of the Commonwealth in the northern hemisphere.

As the first festival of the new school year, it is celebrated with an all-school play, in which each class assumes a role, such as peasants, townspeople, nobles, etc.

The Juniata River Valley began celebrating this version of Michaelmas when a Pennsylvania Dutchman named Andrew Pontius moved his family to neighboring Snyder County to farm.

On his way to Lancaster to hire a German immigrant, he stopped in Harrisburg for the night where he met a young Englishman named Archibald Hunter, who was offered the job.

The contract that was drawn for employment contained a clause specifying their accounts were to be settled each year on the traditional day to do so, 29 September.

In honor of the holiday, painted fiberglass goose statues can be found throughout the county all year long.