MAY, the fifth month of our modern year, was the third of the old Roman calendar. The name is of doubtful origin. Ovid (Fasti, v. 483-90) suggests the three derivations of majestas, majores (the patres of the old Roman city), and Maia, the mother of Mercury, to whom the Romans were accustomed to sacrifice on the first day of the month. Others, again, have been of opinion that its origin is Teutonic, being derived from some obsolete word signifying youthful beauty and loveliness. The Saxons, after the Romans, called it Maius monath. It was considered unlucky among the Romans to contract marriages during this month, on account of the celebration of the Lemuria,—a superstition of which traces are still to be found among ourselves.