Monday, September 1, 2008

September 1, First Day of Spring


Spring is sprung

The flowers is riz

I wonder where

The boidies iz?


Update: Mild Colonial Boy Esq. has his own tribute to the Southern Hemisphere's first day of Spring.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Last comment before I head off ...

Have you ever wondered why the seasons in Australia follow the calendar but in other countries the seasons change with the equinox and the solstice?

kae said...

No.
Elighten me!
It would make better sense for them to fullow the sun, wouldn't it?

kae said...

Because of the Celtic calendar?

kae said...

stars?

Mercurius Aulicus said...

Madame - you have inspired me to celebrate Spring in my own fashion.

Skeeter said...

Well...
The day of the summer solstice has the most hours of daylight and is also known as midsummer.
If that day is the middle of summer, it follows that half of summer occurs before the solstice, and the other half occurs after the solstice.
Same logic for the winter solstice (shortest daylight, midwinter).
If summer and winter are centred on the solstices, then autumn and spring must be centred on the equinoxes (equal day and night).
Next, we must ask if the four seasons are of equal length. If they are, then each season must be three months (13 weeks) long.
Simple maths: the seasons must change 6.5 weeks either side of the equinoxes and solstices.
The solstices occur about the 21st of June and December.
The equinoxes occur about the 21st of March and September.
Therefore, the seasons should change about Feb 3, May 1, Aug 6 and Oct 29.
But they don't change on those dates.
Where have I gone wrong?

kae said...

Skeeter, works for me.

It makes sense to have the middle of the season in the middle of the season...

I think.

mythusmage said...

I heard the boids were on the wing
Oh isn't that the silliest thing
I always thought the wings were on the boid.

missred said...

is there a first day of spring dance and ritual? according to aussie tradition that is...

Wand said...

skeeter:

All so nice and logical and if true then everyone is incorrect about the start and finish dates for the seasons.

So it could be there is more to it. How about including temperature? And that would mean considering the proximity of the planet to the sun but there would be time lags between the proximity of the planet to the sun and the hottest and coldest months.

Clearly this is a vexing issue and one that has been taken too lightly by previous generations. Now add a touch of Global Warming and we get really screwed up (seasons).

Say this is really serious and requires major investigation and research at the highest level to sort it all out. Just think of the potential impact. If we have the seasons wrong, we could have been killing millions because we have been planting crops at the wrong time of the year... the results may have been disastrous and we may have been unaware of our ignorance.

It's definitely time something was done. The IPCC need something to do.

(Perhaps the seasons are variable)