Happy First Day of Spring!

[conuly]

I eschew the ridiculous convention of celebrating the first of spring on the Equinox. Midwinter should be the middle of winter, midsummer should be the middle of summer, and the two special dates in between are clearly the middles of spring and fall. Duh.

Oh, and forget that groundhog nonsense. If he sees his shadow, six more weeks til? If he doesn't, six more weeks of? IT'S THE SAME DAMN THING (coincidentally always landing on the equinox)! There's no "early spring" or "long winter" or any of it! It's the same amount of time!

This has been my yearly rant. Thank you.

Comments

[ursamajor]

i'm not sure what you mean by your second-to-last paragraph - the legend is that if phil sees his shadow, he thinks it's a predator and gets scared back into hiding, which means six more weeks of winter weather. but if he doesn't see his shadow, he lumbers on out to get about his springtime business. *g*

[conuly]

Nuh-UH. It's if he sees his shadow, it's six more weeks of winter, but if he doesn't, it's only six more weeks til spring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_day

See?

[peaseblossom03.livejournal.com]

I'd like it if that were true. If we only had six weeks left of winter weather here that'd RULE.

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

If the groundhog emerges and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end; however, if the groundhog sees its shadow because the weather is bright and clear, it will be frightened and run back into its hole, and the winter will continue for six more weeks.

I'm not getting the six more weeks either way from that.

[conuly]

Assuming that the equinox marked the first day of spring in certain medieval cultures, as it does now in western countries, Groundhog Day occurred exactly six weeks before spring. Therefore, if the groundhog saw his shadow on Groundhog Day there would be six more weeks of winter. If he didn't, there would be 42 more days of winter. In other words, the Groundhog Day/Hedgehog Day tradition may have begun as a bit of folk humor.

That's exactly what I was taught in the first through fourth grades.

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

That's what I get for skimming. :p

[conuly]

It's not the clearest writing out there.

[rho]

Well, I do agree that the idea of the seasons starting on the solstices and equinoxes is ridiculous, but I also don't think that they necessarily ought to be in the middle, either.

I think that most people tend to view the seasons primarily in terms of weather, with day length only being a secondary consideration. And temperature tends to lag behind day length, presumably due to the albedo effect or some such, so the coldest day generally occurs after december 21, and the warmest day generally after june 21.

I'm also not convinced that the seasons ought to be equal lengths either. I tend to see spring and autumn as transition periods which are shorter than winter and summer. Does it really take 3 months for leaves to fall off trees?

Generally, I'm not convinced that there should be any fixed dates for the seasons, but instead, we should just base it on what's actually going on around us at the time. By which reckoning, it's still winter here.

[conuly]

That argument makes sense, I suppose, but then I don't get to divide the year up into neat compartments.

[carlanime.livejournal.com]

We got over a foot of snow yesterday, and it's still snowing, so am unable to see groundhog. ::grins::

[ursamajor]

i'm not sure what you mean by your second-to-last paragraph - the legend is that if phil sees his shadow, he thinks it's a predator and gets scared back into hiding, which means six more weeks of winter weather. but if he doesn't see his shadow, he lumbers on out to get about his springtime business. *g*

[conuly]

Nuh-UH. It's if he sees his shadow, it's six more weeks of winter, but if he doesn't, it's only six more weeks til spring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_day

See?

[peaseblossom03.livejournal.com]

I'd like it if that were true. If we only had six weeks left of winter weather here that'd RULE.

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

If the groundhog emerges and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end; however, if the groundhog sees its shadow because the weather is bright and clear, it will be frightened and run back into its hole, and the winter will continue for six more weeks.

I'm not getting the six more weeks either way from that.

[conuly]

Assuming that the equinox marked the first day of spring in certain medieval cultures, as it does now in western countries, Groundhog Day occurred exactly six weeks before spring. Therefore, if the groundhog saw his shadow on Groundhog Day there would be six more weeks of winter. If he didn't, there would be 42 more days of winter. In other words, the Groundhog Day/Hedgehog Day tradition may have begun as a bit of folk humor.

That's exactly what I was taught in the first through fourth grades.

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

That's what I get for skimming. :p

[conuly]

It's not the clearest writing out there.

[rho]

Well, I do agree that the idea of the seasons starting on the solstices and equinoxes is ridiculous, but I also don't think that they necessarily ought to be in the middle, either.

I think that most people tend to view the seasons primarily in terms of weather, with day length only being a secondary consideration. And temperature tends to lag behind day length, presumably due to the albedo effect or some such, so the coldest day generally occurs after december 21, and the warmest day generally after june 21.

I'm also not convinced that the seasons ought to be equal lengths either. I tend to see spring and autumn as transition periods which are shorter than winter and summer. Does it really take 3 months for leaves to fall off trees?

Generally, I'm not convinced that there should be any fixed dates for the seasons, but instead, we should just base it on what's actually going on around us at the time. By which reckoning, it's still winter here.

[conuly]

That argument makes sense, I suppose, but then I don't get to divide the year up into neat compartments.

[carlanime.livejournal.com]

We got over a foot of snow yesterday, and it's still snowing, so am unable to see groundhog. ::grins::