When do seasons start? Celtic Calendar vs Meteorological

[EarthSight]

I have been walking to work and hiking for almost 20 years now, and over time, my perception of when each season starts has changed, based on my observations of nature. For me, here is the seasonal calendar roughly -

Spring - February, March, April
Summer - May, June, July
Autumn - August, September, October
Winter - November, December January.

I've since learnt that this is in line with the old Celtic calendar. My views on the seasons changed after I saw how trees started to flag and the leaves lost their lustre as early as August in some cases, and often there was already an autumnal feel by the end of that month. However, for a long time,I saw August as very much summer due to the school holiday calendar.

Recently, spring feels like it's in the air and now I've learnt that the start of spring was traditionally celebrated on the 1st of February (Imbolc or Feast of St Brigid).

I've always felt that May felt quite summery. We often have better weather here in Wales in May & June (like we did this year too), rather than July or August. Perhaps it's unsurprising given that in Welsh, July literally translates to 'End of Summer'.

Does the Celtic calendar makes sense where you live in the U.K?

No - YABU
Yes - YANBU

@Positivenancy Interesting. That makes sense to me. Here it's very ingrained to think of August as summer because of school 'summer' holidays.

@Joolsin How timely!

@HoppityBun I blame the academic summer holidays.

@OneWildNightWithJBJ This year, even though you do live more Southwards than me, have a look at the leaves on the trees as August starts & progresses. The heat in mid August has a more serve effect than heat in mid-June. In August, they'll be flagging more and will be prone to shrivelling & turning brown. Even though there was a harvest celebration in the form of Lammas at the beginning of August, technically, it's about the 8th of August that would be exactly a month & half before the Autumn Equinox when there is equal day & night. However, yes, I can see why you wouldn't not relate to my calendar.

@Usedphone Good point about Valentine's Day.

@CharityShopChic I agree with you. I normally feel Autumn stretches until Mid-November. This year though, I feel like the beginning of Spring has already arrived.

@orangesandlemonssaythebellsofstclements and @EarthSight I am going to be closely checking the leaves throughout the year, as this is pretty interesting!

Bookmark this thread and report back so I and other nature nerds can know your findings!

As a pagan we celebrated the arrival of spring on imbloc, feb 1st. Our altar was decorated with candles and some snow drops from our garden . We toasted the return of the sun and new life and rebirth with mead.

I always find the summer strange - by the end of June we've had the longest daylight and in that regard are on the downhill to winter, but July August are the warmest so in that definition summer is just beginning. I guess it's the difference between astronomical and meteorological seasons. I'm quite far north so it's mostly the daylight amount that governs my year.

I don't think it should be an equal split.

Winter: 1/2 Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb
Spring: Mar, Apr, 1/2 May
Summer: 1/2 May, June, Jul, Aug
Autumn: Sept, Oct, 1/2 Nov

Lammas isn't a Celtic festival though. Its a Christian harvest festival- loaf mass. But it syncs with Lughnasa the Celtic festival around the end of July. In modern Irish Lúnasa means the month of August now.

Live in Canada and it's one month ahead according to the op's description

So Dec, jan, feb is winter etc

I've always said:

Winter: December, January, February
Spring: March, April, May
Summer: June, July, August
Autumn: September, October, November.

However I'm in Scotland where summer is usually 1 day in June or August after the schools go back and the rest is winter.

I’m in NI and the Celtic calendar certainly rings true for me. Spring is usually very much in the air by the second half of February as the days grow longer - even this week the air feels different. The best of summer definitely seems to come in May/June these days. July/August are always a complete washout followed by a hot + sunny week in September just as the kids go back to school.

I have heard you get a change in the light/ energy around the mid point between solstice and equinox which fits exactly with the pagan/ Celtic calendars, with their seasons starting at the beginning of Feb/ may/ aug/ Nov. So there's s logic to it.

Most people are so removed from nature in modern life they don't feel it or see it. We live in the countryside and it feels very real.

That's a very good point, a lot of people these days go by what commercial holiday is coming up to dictate the seasons, rather than noticing cycles of nature, which, depending on your region, can vary a few weeks either way for exact starts and finishes.

In London the coldest months are Dec- Feb. So I think of them as winter. The warmest are June - Aug. So I think of them as summer. Not saying that's correct, just how I like to think of it. I can see why people think of Feb as spring due to all the spring bulb shoots, and August as Autumn due to nights drawing in and flowers being overblown
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/location-specific-long-term-averages/gcpsvg3nc

Completely agree.
We no longer need to pay attention to things like where our food comes from, that's someone else's job.
Years ago, fruit trees being harvested in August would be something most people would be familiar with, and a large portion of the fruit would be stored away for winter or made into preserves so August was seen very much as autumn because the winter preparations had already started.
We'd also notice that birds had stopped nesting and baby birds were now leaving the nest, flowers were no longer in bloom but had turned into fruit, frogs from frogspawn had fully matured and hopped off out of rivers bad ponds etc etc
Now people just go by the temperature AKA how it makes them feel instead of the world around them and how it is changing with the seasons.
There's something sad about that.

I prefer the astronomical seasons - (dates are approx as they can change)

Spring 21/03-20/06
Summer 21/06-20/09
Autumn 21/09-20/12
Winter 21/12-20/03

Fruit harvesting goes well into November. Soft fruit and stone fruit in summer to early autumn, some late fruiting soft fruit and pip fruit from September onwards to mid-late November. My blackcurrants are always later than the gooseberries by two months and I was taking apples off in first week of December on the allotment last year.

As a farm worker I remember Augusts almost entirely in wet weather gear and December's in shirt sleeves as well as vice versa going back over 3 decades. Weather is only a general indicator of season, soil temperature is usually better. You only need to look at what's in and on a hedgerow to find out

Seasons are based on the colour-coding the months had on the chart on the wall when I was at primary school.

Spring: late March, April, May.
Summer: June, July, August.
Autumn: September, October.
Winter: November, December, January, February and most of March.

I briefly tried the "coat rule" but reverted back to the above.

(Coat rule is:
Spring: take a coat but not necessarily wear it.
Summer: don't take a coat.
Autumn: take a coat but not necessarily wear it.
Winter: definitely wear a coat.)

Interesting what you said about July meaning "end of summer" in Welsh. In Irish September is "mid Autumn" (Mean Fomhair), and October is "end of Autumn" (Deireadh Fomhair)- which matches up with the Celtic calendar also.

I think here in SW England, winter is the second half of November through to the end of January, and summer is June, July and the first half of August.

It's definitely early spring here, I've seen snowdrops out and crocuses in bud, but I think it's the days being longer too that gives me that spring feeling.

Same on the months

I grew up with the Celtic calender, and my DH also happens to have a massive interest in it via his work (historian) so that's what I follow. It fits for me (NW England. I'm Irish and DH Norwegian. Don't know if our early upbringing makes a difference...the weather definitely isn't the same.), though I'm not sure if that's because of years of celebrating those old festivals.

We're also rural and very into plants and nature, so that could be part of it? We grow a lot of our own food, keep an eye on birds, so on and so forth. So here in this house, yes it definitely makes sense.

There are always fluctuations, of course. But there's a definite "feel" and lots of signs.

Summer June and July, early august - may you can still get frost and you have to be careful what you plant out

Winter late November , December and January

Spring and autumn in between

Def spring like now with the sun getting stronger and higher and the snowdrops and crocus (i) out

I think of it as:

Spring - March, April, May
Summer - June, July, August (pushing through to early September)
Autumn - mid-September, October, mid-November
Winter - late November, December, January, February

This is not based on any calendars or geographical evidence, simply how cold and miserable I feel at each time of year.

Yep, I'm irish, living in NW england (rural), and pagan and follow that calendar. It definitely takes a spring like turn around here in early feb. I mean, I still put the fire on every evening but you can feel spring gently encroaching.