Add to this that June 21 (or so) is often referred to as mid-summer and Dec
21 (or so) as mid-winter; the "mid-" should indficate that summer and winter
each actually began 45 days (or so) earlier (May 7 and Nov.6, respectively)
if one is sticking to quartering the year.
>As far as I know, the seasons don't have official start dates.
Depends. For Pagans, they do.
>The equinoxes and solstices are used by astronomers to divide the
>year up into four parts; each such point is named by the season in
>which it falls; and therefore the four parts inherit the name of the
>event which starts them off. I really don't think that is meant to
>be an assertion that the tropical season of summer doesn't begin until
>the summer solstice and lasts until the autumn equinox.
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