Bealtaine festival and first day of summer

[kellehe...@gmail.com]

This is a wonderful day where the old calendar stretching back to remote antiquity coincides with the present calendar. The year was originally divided into two halves with the dark half from November 1st extending to April 30th and the light half of the year from May 1st covering the next 6 months. As our present calendar is divided into four stages, it makes sense from all perspectives to begin summer on May 1st to mesh with the motions of the planet.

Both noon and midsummer represent different variations of the same fact. In the case of daily rotation at a local level, a location is midway to the dark hemisphere of the Earth at noon while in the case of orbital motion divided by hemisphere, midsummer represents the position of the North pole midway to the dark hemisphere of the Earth.

http://prairieecosystems.pbworks.com/f/1179343887/crerar%20temperature%20variation.jpg

Temperatures rise beyond noon and the same happens after midsummer on the June Solstice.

It is really unhelpful to break the seasons, as current people are inclined to do, into meteorological and astronomical seasons as it obstructs an appreciation of the dynamics which go into the combination of daily and annual motions. It is, therefore, no small matter as seasonal weather is derived from planetary motions whereas the contrived attempt to distance the meteorological seasons from astronomical seasons doesn't serve anybody.