In the old northern European calendar (used by the everyone but the Romans) the beginnings of seasons fell on the cross-quarter days…that is, the days mid-way between the solstices and equinoxes…because these corresponded to the agricultural cycle. Candlemass (Feb 2) (or imbolc in the Celtic) was the first day of spring and corresponded to lambing. May Day (Beltane) was the first day of summer and was the planting time. Loaf-mass or Lammas (Lughnasa, Aug 1) was the start of the harvest. All Hallows (Samhain) was the first day of winter when all was stored away.
Farmer’s Almanacs still have this info; I like to keep the old beginning and endings of the seasons ‘cause it makes more sense.
Huh, that’s cool. I’ve gone by the Old Norse schedule for a while now, they didn’t really separate things into four seasons, just summer and winter, but each month is named for what you do in that month or a characteristic. My favorite is górmanúðr, Slaughter Month (as in animals for winter storage, but it sounds cool).
Yes…there are three slaughtering times. The first is in February when lambs/kids are born. The males are killed for meat and then there’s milk from the ewes and nannies. Then the calf slaughtering later in the spring, same deal. Then in winter any fattened steers, pigs, or culled cows going into winter!
Having just two months in Scandinavia makes sense…it’s so far north!😬
I’m mostly familiar with the Old Norse calendar, where the dog days fall very appropriately into Sólmanúðr, aka, Sun Month😂
In the old northern European calendar (used by the everyone but the Romans) the beginnings of seasons fell on the cross-quarter days…that is, the days mid-way between the solstices and equinoxes…because these corresponded to the agricultural cycle. Candlemass (Feb 2) (or imbolc in the Celtic) was the first day of spring and corresponded to lambing. May Day (Beltane) was the first day of summer and was the planting time. Loaf-mass or Lammas (Lughnasa, Aug 1) was the start of the harvest. All Hallows (Samhain) was the first day of winter when all was stored away.
Farmer’s Almanacs still have this info; I like to keep the old beginning and endings of the seasons ‘cause it makes more sense.
Huh, that’s cool. I’ve gone by the Old Norse schedule for a while now, they didn’t really separate things into four seasons, just summer and winter, but each month is named for what you do in that month or a characteristic. My favorite is górmanúðr, Slaughter Month (as in animals for winter storage, but it sounds cool).
Yes…there are three slaughtering times. The first is in February when lambs/kids are born. The males are killed for meat and then there’s milk from the ewes and nannies. Then the calf slaughtering later in the spring, same deal. Then in winter any fattened steers, pigs, or culled cows going into winter!
Having just two months in Scandinavia makes sense…it’s so far north!😬