Here we are smack in the middle of the sweltering and humid heat of “the Dog Days” of summer.
The actual dates of the Dog Days can vary according to sources, but they generally fall July 3 and August 11. As Becky Little writing for National Geographic tells us:
“For many, the ‘dog days,’ evoke those summer days that are so devastatingly hot that even dogs would lie around on the asphalt, panting. But originally, the phrase had nothing to do with dogs, or even with the lazy days of summer. Instead, the dog days refer to Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major, which means “big dog” in Latin and is said to represent one of Orion’s hunting dogs…To the Greeks and Romans, the ‘dog days’ occurred around the time Sirius appears to rise alongside the sun, in late July in the Northern Hemisphere. They believed the heat from the two stars combined is what made these days the hottest of the year, a period that could bring fever or even catastrophe.”
So, what to do? Go shopping. Some Cambridge merchants in the 19th century used the arrival of “Dog Days” as a marketing gimmick:
In July of 1877, grocer Sam James (545 Main Street) claimed that if you buy June Butter it is cheaper and better than that made in dog days—“Try it once and you will thank me.” (Cambridge Chronicle July 7, 1877)
Another grocer, J. A. Holmes, advertised the implication that after the arrival of dog days his eggs would not be as fresh.
It was also the time to advertise summer clothes. Yacht caps, anyone?
In 1895, the J.H. Corcoran store also led off with underwear:
G. C. W. Fuller, Main Street…how about negligee shirts?
It has been difficult to find the hottest day on record in July for Cambridge, but we did find this for neighboring Boston from the Boston Evening Transcript in 1911 (excerpts):
And now that the political season of 2022 is revving up, lets conclude with this snippet from 1926:
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox
SOURCES
Cambridge Public Library Historic Newspapers Database
Little, Becky. “Here’s Why We Call This Time of Year the ‘Dog Days’ of Summer.” Animals. National Geographic, July 16, 2021. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/150710-dog-days-summer-sirius-star-astronomy-weather-language.