Starship Asterisk*

vofl wrote:
" ... solstice, the date traditionally marks a change of seasons -- from spring to summer in Earth's Northern Hemisphere and from fall to winter in Earth's Southern Hemisphere ..."

Never heard of that saying before - in Scandinavia summer season start June 1. and end three months later on August 31. June 24. is Midsummer day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer wrote:
<<From an astronomical view, the equinoxes and solstices would be the middle of the respective seasons, but sometimes astronomical summer is defined as starting at the solstice, the time of maximal insolation or on the traditional date of June 21. A variable seasonal lag means that the meteorological center of the season, which is based on average temperature patterns, occurs several weeks after the time of maximal insolation. According to meteorologists, summer extends for the whole months of June, July, and August in the northern hemisphere and the whole months of December, January, and February in the southern hemisphere. Under meteorological definitions, all seasons are arbitrarily set to start at the beginning of a calendar month and end at the end of a month. This meteorological definition of summer also aligns with the commonly viewed notion of summer as the season with the longest (and warmest) days of the year, in which daylight predominates.>>

Boomer12k wrote:Like Clockwork.... All Hail, The Sun.... time for a feast... where did I put my robe???

Chris Peterson wrote:

Boomer12k wrote:
Like Clockwork.... All Hail, The Sun.... time for a feast... where did I put my robe???

The robe is for the winter solstice.
The summer solstice demands naked feasting and dancing.

• More Spotted Dick anyone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_on_Bald_Mountain wrote:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

<<Night on Bald Mountain, also known as Night on the Bare Mountain is a series of compositions by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). Inspired by Russian literary works and legend, Mussorgsky composed a "musical picture", St. John's Eve on Bald Mountain on the theme of a witches' sabbath occurring on St. John's Eve, which he completed on that very night, June 23, in 1867. Although Mussorgsky was proud of his youthful effort, his mentor, Miliy Balakirev, refused to perform it. Night on Bald Mountain was never performed in any form during Mussorgsky's lifetime.>>

OzRattler wrote:
Whatever happened to Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere?
Or perhaps too few of us down this way use that word?

• There's a Southern Hemisphere

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autumn wrote:
<<Autumn, also known as fall in North America, is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March (Southern Hemisphere), when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier and the temperature cools considerably.

The word autumn comes from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has within it connotations of the passing of the year. It was borrowed by the neighbouring Romans, and became the Latin word autumnus. After the Roman era, the word continued to be used as the Old French word autompne (automne in modern French) or autumpne in Middle English, and was later normalized to the original Latin. In the Medieval period, there are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but by the 16th century, it was in common use.

Before the 16th century, harvest was the term usually used to refer to the season, as it is common in other West Germanic languages to this day (cf. Dutch herfst, German Herbst and Scots hairst). However, as more people gradually moved from working the land to living in towns, the word harvest lost its reference to the time of year and came to refer only to the actual activity of reaping, and autumn, as well as fall, began to replace it as a reference to the season.

The alternative word fall for the season traces its origins to old Germanic languages. The exact derivation is unclear, with the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall all being possible candidates. However, these words all have the meaning "to fall from a height" and are clearly derived either from a common root or from each other. The term came to denote the season in 16th century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year".

During the 17th century, English emigration to the British colonies in North America was at its peak, and the new settlers took the English language with them. While the term fall gradually became obsolete in Britain, it became the more common term in North America. The name backend a once common name for the season in Northern England has today been largely replaced by the name autumn.>>

vofl wrote:And by-the-way summer solstice is June 21.

neufer wrote:

• There's a Southern Hemisphere