No August is not the start of Autumn

Ok, you (and others) seem to be flipping between religious festivals and the solstice/equinox etc. If you want to define seasons by the position of the sun in relation the the earth, then you simply use Astronomical seasons (where March 20th is the start of Spring). Again, I have no problem with Astronomical seasons. Very few people in Ireland use them and they are, likewise, not the official seasons in Ireland, but I don't have a problem with them.

I even don't have a problem with the historical calendar you are promoting. I only have a problem with people believing that it is the only/official seasons of Ireland (and only do so because it is what they were taught in primary schools operated by the <religious order that shall not be mentioned as people go ape$hit>), never questioned it and then try to twist things to try and make sense of it.

Seemingly autumn in the northern hemisphere will start on September 22, which makes me a summer baby!!

But the concept of the 1st of Feb or the 1st of November would have meant nothing to pre-christian irish as they would not have used the roman calendars. There is nothing special about those dates with regards the lunar cycle. You are correct that the christian missionaries would have hijacked the "pagan" festivals (as they did elsewhere), but the dates would not have necessarily been the same. Going strictly by the lunar cycles (which they likely did), the pagan festivals would translate to our current calendar about a week or so later. The term I keep using to describe it is a "mishmash", as that is exactly what it is.

Of course the state determines what the seasons are. Regardless of whether you use the imperial or metric system, distance, mass, volume etc remain the same, but the state determines which system we use to measure them. We could, if we want, create a whole new calendar tomorrow with just 5 months, or 50! We could have 7 seasons or 12! We could even divide the day into a decimal system if we wanted. It still wouldn't change how long a day/year lasts, but it would change the system by which we use to describe/measure them.

If you want to follow seasons based on the sun cycle, then you follow the Astronomical Seasons, not the Brigid's day version. For the last time - the celtic calendar does not align to the sun cycle!!!

Winter: November, December, January, February, March.

Spring: April, May, June.

Summer: July, August.

Autumn: September, October.

Brrrrrrrrrr ...... It's just so autumny outside. All those leaves falling and the general browness in my garden.

Brrrrrrrrrr

I'm afraid you can't see the forest for the trees.

Seasons are man-made. In other countries/climates, they may have less or more than 4 seasons. Seasons are a means to group together days of the year based on common characteristics, nearly always climate-based (you will typically hear of dry/monsoon/post-monsoon etc), but if it is easier for you, think of them as Season A, Season B, Season C etc. In our part of the world, we divide the year into 4 seasons using 2 different scientific-based systems.

• One, a climate based one called meteorological seasons strictly adheres to the Gregorian calendar. It divides the year into 4 subsets of exactly 3 months each (regardless of the number of days in the month/year), with a season called "Spring" starting on March 1st.
• The other system, a solar based one called astronomical seasons, strictly adheres to the solar cycle and divides the year into 4 subsets (ignoring months, with the varying sizes). It too has a season called "Spring" that may start on a different day depending on the year, but typically around the 20th of March as it was this year.

While both are recognised, it is the meteorological one that is most commonly used and is used by the state.

A final calendar, unique to Ireland, is a mishmash of everything, sometimes referred to as the Irish calendar. Although we are not sure when it was invented, it was likely some time in the dark ages as early christian missionaries and monks tried to reconcile religious symbols and festivals with traditional festivals using the now defunct Julian calendar. While it tries to address both climate and solar lifecycle (especially given the multitude of BS arguments on this thread), it does not strictly adhere to anything. It starts spring earlier than the 2 normal systems because it has decided that Feb 1st, St Brigid's day, should be the start of the season called "Spring".

It is not regarded as official, and is typically referred to only from a "traditional" perspective.

Now, to top it off, a lot of people on here keep screaming about Pre christian seasons etc. What will really blow your mind is that, while we don't know exactly what their calendar looked like (and did all celtic tribes adhere to the 1 calendar?), we do know they really only focused on the light part of the year, and the dark part of the year (2 seasons), mainly followed an 8-day week and, you'll love this one as it ties perfectly in to your argument - they regarded the day as beginning at sunset!!!

And with that, I'm out. I cannot explain it any simpler. I have pointed to countless sources (while those in disagreement have offered none). I didn't invent any of these systems, I'm simply trying to explain it. Likewise, I'm not responsible for our education system (or lack of education as the case may be here).

Instead of sticking to your guns and fighting with religious fervour for whatever version you were taught when you were a little child, perhaps you should use this time to think about it and educate yourself further, before choosing a preferred system. As the old saying goes: before you make up your mind - open it.

OP you are wrong here. 100%

21st June is Midsummer. Each season is 3months long (12/4).

So summer is 3 months long(90days give or take). If Midsummer is the middle day of summer, stands to reason there is 1.5months either side of this day. As such 45 days before 21st June is 6th May (if my maths are right). 45 days after is 5th Aug.

Round that to nearest month and it's May, June & July.

QED.

There is a wikpedia user who contributed to the "talk" section for that wiki page on 21st April ranting about the Catholic Church. 😉 .

One of his reference links was a link to the Sun. The newspaper that is 😂

Caesar Augustus would not be impressed with being told he belongs in the autumn.He would have you on a cross in jig time

This thread is not about Ecuador ffs and the concept of having four seasons supposedly (but in reality, not really) of exactly the same length only applies to temperate climates.

Also, Fahrenheit, really? 🙄

If the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, surely winter starts 6 weeks before and finishes at the end of 6 weeks after.. The same with Summer, 6 weeks either side of the solstice. I was in secondary school before I managed to figure out that’s why December was the middle month of winter and June was the middle month of summer, so spring and autumn fell into place too, 6 weeks either side of the equinoxes. It made sense to me.

Now it appears I got it wrong but I honestly don’t understand why they say the astronomical seasons start from the solstices and equinoxes.

I don’t mind the meteorological convention because really, around the Med no way is August autumn, it’s the hottest month of the year, although September can be changeable .