re those in which the ember or embering days fall.

In the laws of King Alfred and those of Canute, those days are called ymbræs, that is, circular days, from which the word was probably corrupted into ember days. By the canonists they are called quattuor anni tempora, the four cardinal seasons on which the circle of the year turns; and hence Henshaw takes the word to have been formed by corruption from tempora. The ember days are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, after Quadragesima Sunday, after Whitsunday, after Holy-rood day on the 14th of September, and after St Lucia's day, 13th December; which four dates correspond generally with the four seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. It would appear that they were originally fasts, instituted in order to implore the blessing of the Almighty on the fruits of the earth; agreeably to which, Skinner supposes the word ember taken from the ashes or embers then strewed on the head.