text: tell me something about the history of august?   august is the eighth month of the year in the gregorian calendar and one of seven gregorian months with the length of 31 days.  august begins (astrologically) with the sun in the sign of leo and ends in the sign of virgo. astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of cancer and ends in the constellation of leo.  in 1945 the end of the second world war was brought about following the august 6 bombing of hiroshima and august 9 bombing of nagasaki in the first and only use of nuclear weapons against civilian targets. emperor hirohito declared japan's unconditional surrender on august 14.  august was named in honor of augustus. the month reputedly has 31 days because augustus wanted as many days as julius caesar's july. augustus placed the month where it is because that is when cleopatra died. before augustus renamed august, it was called sextilis in latin, since it was the sixth month in the roman calendar which started in march.  in the pagan wheel of the year august begins at or near lughnasadh in the northern hemisphere and imbolc in the southern hemisphere.  in ireland, (in the irish language) august is known as lúnasa, a modern rendition of lughnasadh, named after the god lugh and august 1, (lá lúnasa) in the irish calendar is still regarded as the first day of autumn. the first monday in august is one of the public holidays in the republic of ireland.  some of ireland's most famous battles have being fought in this month. they include - thesecond battle of athenry (1316); the battle of knockdoe (1504); the battle of the yellow ford (1596); the first battle of curlew pass (1599); the battle of dungans hill (1647); the battle of castlebar (1798), and the battle of the bogside (1969).  in the old japanese calendar, the month is called hatsuki (葉月).  in finnish, the month is called elokuu, meaning "month of reaping".  in the uk, august is generally when all academic exam results are published, especially for gcses and a-levels as well as other exams. also, scholars and school workers such as teachers, have a holiday or non-contact time, and there are two bank holidays (uk). it is typically when people go on holiday due to the availability of time.  during august 13 to 19, philippines schools and theaters celebrate the national week of the filipino language.  in spain, august is the holiday month for most workers.  in brazil, folk superstition associates bad luck to august, with the proverb "agosto, o mês do desgosto" ("august, the month of misfortune") being often heard. this may come from the sinister memories of the st. bartholomew's day (august 24), which is particularly dreaded in the northeast of the country. august 24 is also, in the tradition of candomblé, the day of eshu, one of the most malevolent deities. coincidentally, some unfortunate polical events took place in august, like the suicide of the then president getúlio vargas. [1]  every last sunday of august, the philippines celebrates national heroes day in commemoration of the first cry of the philippine revolution on august 23, 1896.  august is also the name of a japanese visual novel company.