"Dog Days Of Summer"

"Dog days of summer" - I always thought it meant the hottest days where the dogs hid under the house, dug a depression to get to the cool earth and panted. They would hardly come out from under the house even if a stranger came up. I was wrong! The name comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, in close proximity to the sun was responsible for the hot weather. Of course, this corresponds with our hottest months of July and August. The Romans considered Sirius to be the "Dog Star" because it is the brightest star in the constellation "Canis Major" (Large Dog). Sirius is also the brightest star in the night sky. The Romans sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather. Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time "the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies." according to Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813 - Wikipedia