# Ides of March -- Wear black?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ides-of-march-wear-black/98493>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 15, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ides-of-march-wear-black/98493 "2002-03-15T17:51:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Erika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/47e85d/32.png) [@Erika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erika)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ides-of-march-wear-black/98493/1 "2002-03-15T17:51:54Z")

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Right. So March 15th, Ceasar’s assasination.

You’ve got the infamous Shakespeare line “beware the ides of march.”

But I’ve got an email from a friend reminding me to wear black. And I don’t know why. Someone care to clarify?

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**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ides-of-march-wear-black/98493/2 "2002-03-15T20:39:47Z")

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Other than as a symbol of mourning for the death of the Caesar, I don’t know why people would wear black on the Ides of March. It’s just another day on the Roman calendar. We don’t wear black on the Ides of June or the Nones of November.

Here is a good explanation of Ides, Nones, and Kalends: [http://www.travel-italy.com/ct/episodes/ides.html](http://www.travel-italy.com/ct/episodes/ides.html).