'Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh'. Happy Bealtaine/summer!

And a gorgeous first day of summer that's in it, too. It'll take the Brits and Yanks another month or so but given that it took them 170 years (1752) to finally adopt the Gregorian Calendar (1582) I'd be giving them the bodhaire Uí Laoire when they start feigning expertise on when summer actually begins.

Bealtaine

Happy summer/Bainigí sult as an samhradh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZdRgQLLCgs

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Thread reminds me of the start of those tapes for leaving cert

pjohnson

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Thread reminds me of the start of those tapes for leaving cert

This gives me flashbacks to the unintelligible gweedore section of these tapes.

Omackeral

Go back to your own country with that talk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO2p-huQl-w

_Whimsical_

Ah memories.
Anois Teach an tSamhraidh was the first song I ever learned in Irish. We had no idea what any of it meant. At around age 7 I was sent on a message with another girl to the staffroom. When we found no one there we took the opportunity to poke around and were caught by a really cross teacher. After she'd finished roaring at us and we were standing in horrified silence my friend decided it'd be wise to attempt to say something to this teacher in Irish by means of explanation and to appease her.

She said in a very earnest voice "Anois teacht and tSamraigh".

It threw the hysterical teacher right off her angry game and we all then stood in a weird silence after but it seemed to work and we were allowed back to our class without her coming to tell our teacher.

It became our catch all Irish phrase like"An bhfuil cead agam dul go dti an leithreas".

Winterlong

This is like when you go in to irish class in school and the teacher starts going on talking in irish with a few bits of english thrown in. Have not got a baldy notion what is going on...but nod and smile anyway.

Beyondgone

Strangely for Ireland, it is summery out too. Gorgeous weather.

The Gods of rain and misery must have forgotten to mark the event in their calendar. They usually send in a bit of winter in case anyone starts getting fancy ideas.

Dr Crayfish

I hate when we get weather like this and the RTE weather woman will come on later with a big smug head on her talking about how sunny it was, "Now wasn't that a lovely day for yiz lads?", as if she was the one who bestowed the day upon us.

Beyondgone

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

I hate when we get weather like this and the RTE weather woman will come on later with a big smug head on her talking about how sunny it was, "Now wasn't that a lovely day for yiz lads?", as if she was the one who bestowed the day upon us.

..followed by the oddly cheery "but it's not going to last..there's more of the usual shyté moving in from the west...so don't be getting notions about shorts or any of that type of thing"

Dr Crayfish

Yeah don't f*cking dare make any plans because there's a big f*ck off L coming shortly to ruin everything. No but it looks like it's going to be pleasant for the next week or so.

xabi

Not until 1st June in my book

Stheno

I had the most lovely day went into Dublin city centre with the oh and met his soon for lunch at a tapas bar in outside seats which were a surreal
Just fab

neverever1

Good to know.

511

It's still Spring. It's ironic you should mention calendars because your seasons, which are the seasons inaccurately thought to our kids in primary school, are going by the outdated Julian Calendar.

How can anyone in their right mind think that the second-hottest month (August) isn't Summer?

whoopsadoodles

Twas a beautiful May Day, whatever season it is I don't really care. It sure did feel like summer.

Took a stroll in the mountains with the mutt, then threw on a pretty summer dress and sandals and went for a spin with the roof down.

I do love a bit of sunshine.

The_Valeyard

xabi wrote: »

Not until 1st June in my book

We dont go by that book here.

Academic

Happy May Day, comrades!

pickarooney

511 wrote: »

It's still Spring. It's ironic you should mention calendars because your seasons, which are the seasons inaccurately thought to our kids in primary school, are going by the outdated Julian Calendar.

How can anyone in their right mind think that the second-hottest month (August) isn't Summer?

'thought'? For ****'s sake. Go back to school.

RayM

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Thread reminds me of the start of those tapes for leaving cert

Léigh anois go cúramach, ar do scrúdpháipéar...

(cassette player vibrating on a wobbly desk, echoing away in a carpet-less hall)

Noveight

My favourite time of year, every year. Here's to hoping we get a decent stretch of good weather this summer.

.

baylah17

xabi wrote: »

Not until 1st June in my book

Same here
Summer starts in June
OK suffering from premature summerfication
Lol

Arcade_Tryer

Summer? Today was closer to the first day of Spring than Summer.

Time to stop letting tradition get in the way of sense. Summer starts in June. The homeless person on the street can testify to that.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

Summer? Today was closer to the first day of Spring than Summer.

Time to stop letting tradition get in the way of sense. Summer starts in June. The homeless person on the street can testify to that.

When’s mid summer?

Are Am Eye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYJxU0TKr_Y

Graces7

Summer it aint today. Not here, West Mayo,offshore island. A gale and deluging sideways rain. And cold...

murpho999

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

When’s mid summer?

That's a druid thing and not accurate at all in relation to seasons but more to do with daylight.

Going by the system of Feb being Spring and today being Summer means that August is Autumn which is one of the warmest months and peak summer holiday season.

This only seems to be an issue in Ireland as the rest of the Northern Hemisphere has Spring as March, April May and Summer as June, July and August etc.

If February was Spring how did we have the heaviest snowfalls in years?

TheRiverman

Winter 2017/18,September,October,November,December,January,February,March,April and so far May 1.

mad muffin

I have the heating on today…

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Mackerel and Avocado Sandwich

Yes can we stop spouting this summer starts in May nonsense. I'll listen to Met Eireann regarding seasons rather than wizards from 1000s of years ago. It was below zero in parts of Ireland 2 nights ago.

wexandproud

i think we should have only two seasons . 6 months of cold , wet , windy and generally poor weather , then after that comes the winter

topper75

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

If something can begin in the middle of itself, the surely black can also be white.

murpho999

topper75 wrote: »

If something can begin in the middle of itself, the surely black can also be white.

No it's related to equinoxes and solstices. Which makes sense.

This is used in most countries.

riffmongous

The whole idea of seasons starting on a specific day is nonsense when you think about it, each system has it's own justifications, use which ever one you want I guess. I'll stick to the traditional one thanks

Graces7

Graces7 wrote: »

Summer it aint today. Not here, West Mayo,offshore island. A gale and deluging sideways rain. And cold...

Needed my wellies just to get to the gate....

Franz Von Peppercorn

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

There’s plenty of reason to not take the solstice as the start of astronomical summer. Why start summer as the days get shorter, and winter as the days get longer? Even worse American meteorologists often follow astronomical seasons too.

(First day of winter they say a few days before Christmas in parts of the US that have been snowed in for months.)

So if we are to stick to months then the three months with the greatest amount of sun in the northern hemisphere are may, June and July. The hottest are June, July and August.

June 21st to Sept 21st is nothing. Neither the hottest 3 months nor the 3 months with most sun.

It’s hardly an Irish thing either. All midsummer festivals in Europe are mid late June. Songs about Christmas mention the bleak mid winter. May Day is historically a start of summer festival. Why would you celebrate the last month of spring?

I have no idea why “experts” choose to start astronomical seasons on the solstices or equinoxes rather than in the mid point between a them, in doing so they throw away centuries of tradition and common sense.

Noveight

Travelled from Clare to Cork today and it was non-stop drizzle all the way there and back. I would have considered May to be a summer month but I'm thinking I'll have to reconsider my stance on that one!