Times and Seasons

June 21st will officially be the first day of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

The four seasons take place logically because of the relative positions of the Earth and the Sun. But some ways we measure time are just arbitrary.

It's logical to call the cycle of the four seasons a year. Approximately twelve times a year the moon appears, becomes full, and disappears from our view again so it's also logical to have twelve months in every year.

But there's no logical reason to call seven days a week. We have weeks simply because people in the dominant cultures have agreed to do that for centuries.

Yes, we have morning, noon, evening and midnight because of the sun and moon, but dividing the time in between into 24 hours, hours into 60 minutes, and minutes into 60 seconds doesn't happen because of any natural phenomena. Again, that's just something people all over our planet agree about.

There are lots of things humans can't agree on, but at least we do all think alike about a few things.

Vernal Equinox

Unlike some divisions of time like hours, minutes, seconds, and weeks, the seasons are actually determined by nature. The Vernal Equinox is when the sun crosses the equator, making hours of day and night equal - at least in some parts of the world. I'm not sure that actually happens in places like Antarctica and at the North Pole.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, today is the first day of Spring. This is the season when flowers are supposed to bloom, the sky should be blue, and birds and butterflies should be seen flying around. But where I live, in the Sierra foothills of Northern California, it seems that Winter has just arrived. We had the first real snowfall last week. But we know things will warm up.

Other parts of the planet have had different kinds of weather, but the movement of the sun controls the seasons for all of us.

Soon people in Australia and Brazil will be harvesting crops and preparing for cold weather while those of us in the Northern Hemisphere will be putting away our sweaters and coats and planting things in our gardens.

What's the weather like where you live?

There are pleasant and unpleasant things about every season. Which season do you like best?