Today is Groundhog Day, which means only one thing: did Pennsylvania's famed “weather predicting” groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, see his shadow? Obviously, a groundhog's shadow is not a scientific way to forecast the weather but, according to the Sun, a change in season is right around the corner.
Everyone knows about the solstices and equinoxes, the days that mark seasonal changes. However, most of these same people have never heard of a cross-quarter day, which mark the half way point of the seasons. Now, it just so happens that February 2 is such a day, so what does it mean?
In neolithic times as farming was just starting to become a true industry, timekeepingwas literally a matter of life and death as the success of the harvest depended on planting and reaping at the right time. To help in their farming efforts, the ancient peoples looked to the stars, specifically the Sun, to determine the length of the solar year which, once found, would allow for more specific divisions. After discovering that the year was roughly 365 days long, the ancients looked again to the Sun, noting how its position of rise/set changed during the year. In dividing up the year, the ancients looked to solar motion, namely its most Northerly and Southerly positions along with its direct East/West rises/sets. Thus the four seasons, or quarters of the year were born.
Taking the concept of dividing up the year further, ancient peoples similarly split each season, or quarter of the year, into halves. The dates on which a mid way point of a season fell came to be called a cross-quarter or mid-quarter day.
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