What does midsummer actually mean?

Surely it can't mean the middle of summer as my calendar says the 21st
is the official start of summer. So where has this come from?


Graham

In article , dated Mon, 19 Jun 2006,
Graham Jones wrote
What does midsummer actually mean?

Surely it can't mean the middle of summer as my calendar says the 21st
is the official start of summer. So where has this come from?


I'm not sure whether the offset is a Precession of the Equinoxes type
timeslip, or something to do with the lost eleven days when the calendar
was changed, but June 24 is midsummer as December 24 is midwinter, ie
the middle of the half-year. It's very ancient - the mid-winter date is
at least Roman (that's why it became Christmas). The division of the
year into two halves is also pretty old, and is seen on Celtic calendars
such as the Coligny calendar, though I expect the concept is a lot older
than that.


--
Kate B

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to reply personally

Graham Jones wrote:
What does midsummer actually mean?

Surely it can't mean the middle of summer as my calendar says the 21st
is the official start of summer. So where has this come from?

This is the perennial question. There is no straight answer. In terms
of the calendar I suppose June 21st is midsummer. Most British people
take summer to be the months of June, July and August, symmetrically
bracketing the statistically warmest part of the year. The Americans
consider June 21st to be the start of summer, and as they would say -
your mileage may vary.

Martin



Graham

In message , Graham Jones
writes
What does midsummer actually mean?

The day with the most hours of light.

Surely it can't mean the middle of summer as my calendar says the 21st
is the official start of summer. So where has this come from?

The seasons lag the sun.


Graham

--
Surfer!
Email to: ramwater at uk2 dot net

The Americans
consider June 21st to be the start of summer,

That's interesting, as most parts of the USA seem to have a later
summer compared to us. I've noticed (from weather reports) that most
parts of the USA are as likely as NW Europe to have cool, wet weather
in say May, while September and October are notably warmer and sunnier
than NW Europe. I remember seeing some monthly average maxima for New
York, and amazingly, New York is warmer in October (mean max 21C) than
May (mean max 20C).

Nick

In article .com,
says...

Graham Jones wrote:
What does midsummer actually mean?

Surely it can't mean the middle of summer as my calendar says the 21st
is the official start of summer. So where has this come from?

This is the perennial question. There is no straight answer. In terms
of the calendar I suppose June 21st is midsummer. Most British people
take summer to be the months of June, July and August, symmetrically
bracketing the statistically warmest part of the year. The Americans
consider June 21st to be the start of summer, and as they would say -
your mileage may vary.

I think most Americans think of summer as being between Memorial Day
weekend (last Monday of May) and Labor Day weekend (first Monday of
September). For instance, that's the time period that the public
swimming pool around here is open, even though public schools are back
in session for a couple of weeks before Labor Day.

The 21 June date is based off a slavish adherence to astronomical
criteria.

Harold
--
Harold Brooks
hebrooks87 hotmail.com

Graham Jones wrote:
What does midsummer actually mean?

Surely it can't mean the middle of summer as my calendar says the 21st
is the official start of summer. So where has this come from?


Graham


June 21st is the first day of summer, as it's a astronomical measure of
time. While midsummers day is the 24th June because it's a pagan
festival centered on the summer solstice being the half way through the
summer.

However, over the past two millennium, the tropical year and Julian year
have moved apart, so the 24th June is no longer on the summer solstice.

Wolverhampton
175m asl

June 21st is the first day of summer, as it's a astronomical measure of
time.

I've never quite got that though. If astronomical summer is defined as
the lightest season (which, surely, it ought to be, just like climatic
summer is the warmest season) then astronomically, summer should be the
three months centred on June 21st, i.e. May 6th to August 6th.

A combination of day length, temperature, and relative probability of
sun vs gloomy overcast would be something like this:

Summer: June 1 - September 20
Autumn: September 21-November 20
Winter: November 20-February 28
Spring: March 1 - May 31

Autumn in particular is a fleeting season: high daytime temps (20C+)
typically last well into September in southern England whilst in a
normal year most of the leaves have dropped off by mid-November,
leaving us in the dank gloom of winter.

Nick

wrote:
June 21st is the first day of summer, as it's a astronomical measure of
time.

In western European terms, it is midsummer, not the beginning. In olden times,
this would be celebrated three days later, on "midsummer day" (June 24) in much
the same manner as the Winter solstice (Dec 22) is celebrated three days later,
even in modern times.

I've never quite got that though. If astronomical summer is defined as
the lightest season (which, surely, it ought to be, just like climatic
summer is the warmest season) then astronomically, summer should be the
three months centred on June 21st, i.e. May 6th to August 6th.

Thus proving that you have in fact got it exactly (give or take a day or two).

Meteorological summer lags behind that by about a month, for reasons already
described on the group.


--
Gianna

wrote in message
ps.com...
| The Americans
| consider June 21st to be the start of summer,
|
| That's interesting, as most parts of the USA seem to have a later
| summer compared to us. I've noticed (from weather reports) that most
| parts of the USA are as likely as NW Europe to have cool, wet weather
| in say May, while September and October are notably warmer and sunnier
| than NW Europe. I remember seeing some monthly average maxima for New
| York, and amazingly, New York is warmer in October (mean max 21C) than
| May (mean max 20C).
|

When you consider that there is only land between New York and the mass of
ice and snow that accumulates in Canada over the Winter and does not really
start to thaw until March, this is not surprising at all. Their
north-westerlies can be a jolly sight colder than ours - and think how cool
a British north-westerly can be in May after coming from the Arctic via a
thousand mile sea track.

Mind you, New York is also a lot nearer sources of tropical warmth than we
are in May, too.
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