Many consider Labor Day to be the final hurrah of summer. School is kicking off. Fashionistas box away their white clothes, and the NFL and college football seasons are launched. Many Americans host final barbeques to mark the occasion.
(Speaking of grill parties, read here about where hot dogs and hamburgers got their names.)
But Labor Day is really just a symbolic end to summer. Traditionally fall begins at the equinox, the time when the sun crosses the plane of the earth’s equator. The spring, or vernal, equinox occurs around March 21, and the fall, or autumnal, equinox occurs around September 22. The word comes from the Latin aequinoctium, which means “the time of equal days and nights.”
The equinox should not be confused with the solstice, which is either of the two times a year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator. The solstice occurs around June 21 and December 22.
When does summer end for you? What event or activity is the real sign that the seasons have changed?
Summer ends for me when I have to wake up at 5 in the morning everyday. So that usually means school is starting, which i may add is in the middle of august.
You said it, Saf. Very much the same here in South Florida…
The spring and fall equinoxes are actually called the vernal (spring) and autumnal (fall) equinox in case you’re wondering
You’re not official enough. The start of spring is the vernal equinox, and the start of fall is the autumnal equinox.
I live just above you, James, in SC. Spring quickly turned into summer this year around May, when it just went from nice to insanely hot. I know about the “hot shower in a wet wool blanket feeling.” We try to stay cool, but if you keep your thermostat at 78 degrees, then the AC isn’t enough to keep you cool in 115 degree heat indexes. Autumn comes pretty quickly here, as well. This is usually around Halloween. October 30th can be a nice 85 degrees, and then by the evening of October 31st the temps have dropped to a cold 30-40 degrees at night. It’s crazy the weather extremes. People have asked me when it’s going to get warm again, and I tell them to wait until mid-March. Then they ask when it’s going to get cold again, and I tell them to wait until Halloween. Trick or treating isn’t as much fun when you have to wear your woolies on underneath the gauzy costumes, and wear hats, gloves, and coats to keep away the cold.
‘FINDETE,’ FINDELETE’? (Fin-d’Ete, Fin-de-l’Ete)
‘AU-TUMP’? (With-the-Haystack)
‘HARVEST’? (old nomenclature)
‘FALL’? (opposite of spring)
The Egyptians call it Planting Season, because the Nile flood season has passed.
Early Roman-Latin/Etruscan, Autumn, is possibly derived as, Au+T’Amun (With-T’Amun/Ra the sungod settling into his old age).
In India-Indian, Autumn is the season favored by Saraswati (wife of Brahma) probably because she had a child in old age (cf Sarai/Sarah and Abram/Abraham).
Ray.
It is a complete fallacy to assert that fall begins at the equinox or that summer begins on the 21st of June (summer solstice), etc. or as some calendars erroneously report those are the “official” beginnings of the seasons. No governmental or scientific body has ever declared this to be. The autumnal equinox is merely the first day of astronomical fall. Just Sept. 1st is the first day of meteorological fall.
As Cecil Adams writes in “The Straight Dope” (and here he is talking about the summer solstice but it applies to all the seasons:
There is a widespread misconception in this country–which extends, I might note, to the makers of most calendars, dictionaries, and encyclopedias–that summer “officially” starts on the day of the summer solstice, June 21 or 22, which is the longest day of the year. Americans also believe (1) that there is some valid scientific reason for doing it that way, and (2) that everybody in the Northern Hemisphere does it that way, and always has.
None of these things is true. So far as I have been able to discover, no scientific or governmental body has ever formally declared that summer starts on the solstice.
You can read the rest at this link:
(In high school it came to be celebrated as Long Pants season … after culottes became allowed in Spring.)
[...] resztę artykułu: What's the word that describes the official end of summer? Is it … comes-from, equinox-should, its-greatest, solstice, the-sun, the-time, the-two, with-the-solstice [...]
[...] Eleven after Seven over the Sands of Time — Labor is as Labor does seven days a week — The Equinox is celestial with no other equality to speak. — “ACQUISITION” is the Reason — “ACHIEVEMENT” is the Rhyme. — Regardless of the season. — Born for a life of doing time.–>>Rupert L.T.Rhyme [...]
“Labor Day” is two words.
yah Saf, it’s really similar weather here in Tennessee lol. I consider the start of fall whenever i can go outside and take my dog for a walk without having to complain about the heat and humidity lol
I live in the west of Sri Lanka. It is almost always summer here! There would be a bit of rain November and considerably heavy rains around April, but apart from that its always sunny! However, the heat is not too bad as there are regular winds that pass by, just like now! 
I wonder if I should change my bag for fall from the one of the light color.
It is a black orstrich but I think it is too posh for my workplace. My baggy senior coworkers are so picky about what others have.
When the nights are cool and the many shades of autumn color the trees – that’s the real sign of fall for me. When you can smell the scent of burning leaves and feel the excitement of Friday night football – that’s fall. Starting early in Tennessee this year, with mornings in the 50s and 60s. Best time of year!
Now that I am down south like others, Florida from where ever up north, summer for me has increased. Seeing how we don’t leave the 80 degree temps. until Oct. or Nov. it has extended my summers & decreased fall. My winters have delightfully shrunk from the 4-5 months of 20 & 30 degree temps to a week or two of frost.
I live in Florida so our only two seasons are 1) Hot-muggy-wet and 2)Not so hot-muggy-wet. Or you can call them Hurricane Season and Not Hurricane season.
Summer will be over when I am able to sit straight up in the chair.
Labor day is 2 words not 1!!!!!!!!
Summer will be over on September 22!
The first day of rainning for a month and so cooling outside. Such a relief. This year’s summer is extremely hot and humid over the Pacific Ocean, but today I smell soothing autumn comining in.
I prefer autumn to fall becasue it sounds better although I liked fall better back in the junior high because I could not spell autumn right.
The coming season is the time to reap a harvest.
Summer is officially over for me when I put the cover on the air conditioner.
And here in Minnesota that’s Sept. 1st.
I live in Florida in a little town called perry which is a hick town so i’m a country girl, but this year rocked it felt like summer durring my birthday which is in Jan. The day summer is over is sept. 23 here so i aint got long!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But if i’m lucky my b-day will be nice and warm and not cold,wet, and soggy!!!!!! GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also i would have to say fall is the best of them all but i do like summer!!!!!!!!!! Can you say bathing suits, no school, playing in the mud with trucks, and hanging by the campfires!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because that’s the way we get down in a hick town!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
I live in Arkansas. Summer is over when I can go outside without feeling like I’m taking a hot shower in a wet wool blanket (which is usually about two days in January, then it goes back to being summer again).