Every culture has a different definition of when the beginning and end of the season is. Our current system is based off of the solar calendar, namely that each equinox or solicit is the first day of their respective season. I do not believe that this is the best definition for the seasons. Why should the longest day of the year be the first day of summer, when every day after that approaches fall and winter, and every day before it approaches summer. According to my logic, each equinox and solicit should be the midpoint of that season, rather than the beginning. Thus the summer solicit, the longest day of the year, would be the midpoint of summer, rather than the first day of summer. The first day of a season would be the date exactly between each equinox and solicit. These dates tend to be more inline with what we would call a season by the nature of the weather and world around us.
Other cultures define the season with less precision, and in many ways, their lesser degree of precision yields to them greater degree of accuracy. For many, the first day of fall begins with the last harvest of the season, the first day of winter with the first snowfall. By this, Mother Earth determines her seasons, rather than by the calenders and calculations of man. There is a certain comfort in allowing nature to define herself and speak to us.
For many weeks now I have noted that buds have been forming on the trees and that spring flowers have been breaking soil. With today's warm sunny morning came the blooming of the first crocus, and with it the beginning of spring.
