Season Similarities: Spring & Summer, Fall & Winter

[Alolan_Apples]

For the next three entries, I decided that I'm going to point out what each season has in common with another. Did you know that all four seasons are alike to each other, even the opposites? This is true. Just letting you know, since I don't know too much about international holidays, I may not post too much about the holidays internationally, but I may post info about Christian and Jewish holidays.

Another thing to tell you about similarities. Transition months (March, June, September, and December) are quite tricky. Even if they classify under the seasons they start, most of these months are in the season before. Example, you knew I joined when TBT had the fall background. At that time of the year, it was still summer. So I joined in the summer, but September is classified as a fall month. Christmas is right on the spot for being in the winter, but St. Patrick's Day isn't in the spring, Flag Day isn't in the summer, and Labor Day isn't in the fall. Even if their months were for those seasons, they still qualify for the seasons before.

Nonetheless, I will begin pointing similarities between the seasons. Today, it will be about the popular season matches, spring & summer, and fall & winter.

Spring and Summer:​

While spring is alike every season, it's more alike to summer than it is to the other two seasons. They are part of the growing season, or the warm season. Days seem to be more lively and upbeat towards the middle of the year.

• Both have major American holidays that date to the American Revolution - that's right! Flag Day (despite being in a summer month) is on the spring side of the month, and Independence Day is in the month of July. What's even more interesting is that they're both close to the Summer Solstice, just on different sides.
• Both have parent appreciation days - Mother's Day and Father's Day are both in the spring, while Grandparent's Day is in the late summer.
• Both have some lack of holidays - whether or not if this is correct, it is true that fall and winter have more holidays than spring and summer. Not to mention, summer has only three major holidays, and that's not including the first day of summer. We could throw in international holidays, but I'm looking as the US perspective. If we throw in the June holidays, but remove September, that means two holidays. As for spring, there are a lot of religious holidays, but if we only limit to Easter, and exclude the parent appreciation days (as well as Flag Day), we only get four holidays. Spring has a lot of holidays, but most of them are in April. Even so, compare it to fall and winter. Both latter seasons alone have more than spring, even with the religious holidays and parent appreciation days included. It's kinda funny how we have fewer holidays in the spring and summer, but the more important holidays for Christianity and Judaism, as well as 4th of July (most important American-exclusive holiday).
• Warmer seasons - the most obvious similarity on this list. It's true that it starts warming up in spring, but it gets even hotter in the summer. Even 50°F spring weather is warm, while 50°F summer weather (which we hardly get) is cold.
• Days are longer than nights - this is another obvious similarity. Based on the Earths' tilt, the time after the Vernal Equinox and before the Autumnal Equinox is when the United States is tilted closer to the sun. Because of this, days begin earlier, but end later. The only difference between both season here is that in spring, days continue to get longer while in summer, days begin to get shorter. Even so, they still have longer days.
• Both have more flowers - and do you know what else? Both have more beautiful gardens. Nuff said for this similarity (and all similarities between these two seasons).

Fall and Winter:​

While spring and summer are quite similar, the opposites of the two are also similar to each other. Some of these similarities are the exact opposite of the ones I said before. These seasons are part of the harvesting season, or the cool season. Days tend to be more calm and downbeat very early in the year or late in the year.

• Both have festive holidays - while festive holidays are in all four seasons, the ones we think of most are Halloween, Thanksgivings, and Christmas. Yet, the two biggest holidays are Halloween and Christmas. Even if they are closer to the end of the year and in the months where fall is dominant, they are not in the same season. So if we had an extended holiday season to include all three of these holidays, it would last from the first of October to the second of January.
• Both have New Year's - this may sound confusing, but I can simplify it. Both of them appear to have a lunar New Year's Day, Rosh Hashanah, and Chinese New Year. Yes, Rosh Hashanah can be in the summer too, but since it mostly fluctuates between summer and fall quite frequently, I would consider this more in the fall since it's in September. And Chinese New Year's? That's only in the winter. And never forget New Year's Day and New Year's Eve.
• Hanukkah - the last one I would go over for holidays is the possibility of Hanukkah. It's mostly in December, but it depends on the Hebrew Calendar. It can begin as early as in November. It can also end as late as in January. Whatever is true, both seasons have a possibility of Hanukkah.
• Cooler seasons - like spring and summer being warmer, fall and winter are similar based on temperature. Depending on where you live, you could get snow as early as in November. More obviously, fall is when it cools down as winter is when it gets colder.
• Days are shorter than nights - unlike spring and summer, nights are longer than days, which is another form of evidence to prove that fall and winter are opposites as spring and summer. Fall tends to be even more depressing. As it's closer to the end of the year, nights are already longer than days, and they continue to get even longer. It sounds like the year is dying. And winter, days get longer, even if they are shorter. Remember, in these three entries, I will be talking about the day length and contrasts.
• Daylight Savings - while the entirety of Standard Time is in both fall and winter, both days when we change the clock are in fall and winter. The day we "spring ahead" is pretty ironic because it's still in the winter when we lose an hour. When we "fall back", we prepare for the winter. See the irony?

That's all for today. Tomorrow, I will talk about the other adjacent seasons and similarities.