The Anglo-Saxon Calendar

Image by Alain Audet from Pixabay

I’ve been reading about the Anglo-Saxon calendar, and have decided to adopt its assignment of seasons, as it is far more sensible than ours. In the AS calendar, the solstice or equinox signals the middle of the season, rather than the start of it (the astronomical calendar). Think about it… the shortest day of the year should be midwinter, not the first day of winter. The same holds true for the other seasons. Midsummer should fall on the longest day of the year. And in fact, around the globe, the celebration of midsummer centers on the summer solstice and the celebration of midwinter centers on the winter solstice, even though in many of these countries, it’s technically the first day of summer or winter.

There are some cultures that do recognize the solstices and equinoxes as the middle of the season and not the start of it, so I wouldn’t be totally out of place in the 21st century by doing the same.

It certainly makes winter seem shorter. And the sap in maple trees starts running—a sign of spring—in mid-February, so it makes continued sense.

The correct Anglo-Saxon seasonal dates are:

February 7: first day of spring
May 9: first day of summer
August 7: first day of autumn
November 7: first day of winter

So take heart: winter will be more than halfway over by the time 2020 ends. Which may be the only good thing that has happened this year.

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay.

Addendum: speaking of calendars, today is the start of the Church year; the first Sunday of Advent. My favorite Sunday of the Church year, aside from Easter, is Saints Triumphant Sunday, which was two weeks ago, but I forget how much I love the first Sunday of Advent, too, where we look for Jesus’ second Advent, His return. We sang a fourth-century hymn from St. Ambrose, “Savior of the Nations, Come.” There’s something about singing hymns that have been sung by Christians for over a thousand years. It just makes everything a little bit better.