I wondered, but never looked up why Midwinter's Day was actually the first day of winter, Midsummer's Day the first day of summer. It seemed that someone had missed a trick, or was confused about the astronomy.
Well, no. We decided late in northern European history to set the beginning of winter on the shortest day, the beginning of summer on the longest. 1300 to 1500, very regional in adoption. Before that winter began variously anywhere from mid-October to the first of November, often on a Saint's Day. Vetrardag in Old Norse, the first day of winter, was the Saturday that fell between October 10 and 16th.
The years of one's life were counted more often in winters than summers. "A lad of fourteen winters" we would call thirteen. As food was more scarce and fuel depleted over the winter, it was something of a milestone, even an accomplishment, to make it through a winter. Even the wealthy would find March rather grim. There was also some tendency to divide the year into summers and winters, with autumn and spring being sections of those, the planting season and the harvest season.
Those who do genealogy see the remnants of this in the new year starting in the spring. Regardless of what the calendar is doing, we keep the same idea in our poetry.
Or more recently,
And Vivaldi starts his Four Seasons with "Spring." Sometimes the heart knows what the mind refuses to see.
Farm leases traditionally start in March as well.
ReplyDeleteThere is a delay from more sunlight (starting Dec 21, peaking June 21) to warmer weather, ditto from less sun to colder. So the felt/visible seasons are offset from the astronomical events of equinox and solstice. That's part of the motivation for the "cross-quarter" days like Halloween, as they map better to the start of seasons.
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