No August is not the start of Autumn

@gleanntrasna - But, Feb 1st is not the astronomical start of Spring either. With the Astronomical calendar, Spring starts even later than the meteorological one, typically starting on March 20th (equinox) and Summer starting on June 20th/21st (summer solstice). The dates vary slightly by year.

The only calendar that has spring start on Feb 1st is a mishmash of religious festivals/traditions promoted by Catholic primary schools in Ireland. No other body/scientists etc promote this calendar, nor is there any logic to it. You mention that some of these festivals have their roots in pre-christian Ireland. That is, of course, correct. However, A) these festivals were not necessarily marking a season as we would regard them today and B) the dates associated with the festivals today are not necessarily the same as those used in pre-christian Ireland. You have to realise that, pre-christian Ireland wouldn't have used the same calendar that we use today. For the most part, the celtic calendar appears to have been a combo of lunar cycles, astronomical and even 8-day weeks etc! The calendar you are referring to is a mishmash of pre-christian festivals, the roman calendar and christian holidays.

And I have no problem with that calendar being recognised for historical purposes. But it is not based on science, nor is it the official one used in Ireland today. It's a bit like the imperial system. Yes, its use was widespread in Ireland for a period of time, yes some people still use it today in relation to some traditions etc, but we mainly use the metric system and the metric system is the official system of measurement in Ireland.

not really English is it!

You'll have to ask whoever defined the astronomical seasons. But that is what it is. Under the Astronomical seasons (i.e. seasons based on the solar cycle), the equinoxes and solstices mark the beginning of the seasons, not the mid-point.

eh???

On the contrary. There are a lot of people on here simply regurgitating the seasons as they learned them in primary school. Now that it has been pointed out to them that these are not the official seasons, they are having a heart-attack and trying to find any reason they can to justify their beliefs.

There are 2 main definitions of seasons in the Western Hemisphere. The first is based on climate and is known as Meteorological Seasons and, in Ireland this results in Spring starting on March 1st. This is the standard adopted in Ireland. We also use the metric system and the Euro currency by the way. The other is based on the solar cycle and is called Astronomical Seasons. It is also recognised in Ireland and has Sprint start on March 20th (this year - it changes from year-to-year).

In Ireland, a 3rd definition exists which came out of Christian Ireland and is a mishmash of different religious and cultural festivals. It is NOT aligned to the solar cycles (as many have tried to claim), nor the growth of grass, and only persists because certain primary schools keep teaching it to little children in between teaching them about the tooth fairy and the easter bunny.

Oh, please read the thread as I have no intention of going back over everything. And no, May, June, July weren't the "summer months" before the establishment of Christianity. Our whole calendar is based on the Roman calendar (which was introduced to us by the early Christian missionaries) and subsequently revised (Gregorian calendar). Travel back 3,000 years and the Irish (as they were then) wouldn't have the first fcukin clue what you are talking about.

St. Brigid's Day IS the start of Spring and All Saint's Day IS the start of Winter. This however has nothing to do with Christianity or the Catholic Church determining the seasons. It has to do with Christianity and the Catholic Chuch hijacking druidic/pagan dates which are/were based on the Sun cycle. The 1st of November was traditionally called Samhain and marked/celebrated as the beginning of winter. The night before people would light bonfires and wear sary masks to ward off the ghosts and spirits of winter. In order to crush this belief the Church hijacked the holiday, called it All Hallows and the day before as All Hallows Eve/Even or to abbreviate...Hallowe'en. They did the same with the investion of Christmas to hijack the Winter Solstice (though they shuffled it a few days later than Dec. 21st. Most likely they pulled the same stunt with that June 24th crap to try and hijack the Summer Solstice.

The "State" doesn't determine what the longest day of the year is or what months have the most sunlight. The FCUKING SUN DOES.

If astronomers classify the 21st of September as the start of Autumn then they would classify the 21st of December as the start of Winter. Why would anyone call the 21st of December as the start of Winter when the days are starting to get longer on that date?

Jesus man.......the seasons don't START on the Equinoxes or Solstices. These are HALFWAY points.

I'll really try to simplify it for you. Does Monday or Saturday or any other day of the week begin at NOON?

No. NOON is the midpoint. Some people on here using the same logic about temperatures or how they "feel" would say the day of the week starts when their damn alarm clock goes off at 6am. 5 minutes before that is "yesterday".