Critical Thinking: Seasons

Throughout the history of humanity, cultures have been fascinated with time, the cyclical nature of its passing, and the significance of points within that cycle.

The calendar we use today, the Gregorian calendar, starts in January and ends in December. But it wasn't always this way. It used to start in March. That would explain some of the oddly named months we have:
August was originally Sextilis in Latin, the sixth month.
September (the seventh month)
October (the eighth month)
November (the ninth month)
December (the tenth month)

Actually, go back far enough and there wasn't even a January or February to precede March, it was just March-December and then the nameless period of winter until March came back around.
But alas, I digress.

Why, now that we have a calendar that actually covers the entire year, start the year in January? Why not February? Why not July?

With a little thought, most people will make some association between the seasons. Actually, what they're really thinking is that it has to do with the solstices and equinoxes.

Most cultures (Northern hemisphere, mind you) tended to start things off on or around the Spring equinox, which is in March, and when you think about it makes some sense. It's when things start to grow again, it's officially lighter than darker. At least in theory it ought to be getting warmer again. Things have reached their balance point, so, let's start from there. Right?

But here we have this calendar that says the new year starts after the Winter solstice. Why start a year when it's freezing cold outside(or blazing hot)?

Though I can't say for sure, I'd imagine it's a difference in perspective. If you think of the solistices as -1 and 1 in terms of temperature, alignment to the sun, length of daylight, etc, then then the equinoxes are 0. Zero is kind of accepted as the starting point.

But that's only if you're middle-centric. Some people define things by their limits rather than their average. Rather than start when everything is average, start at the extreme.

I've identified a couple things as factors in deciding when to start a year, if you're going to base it off of the earth's position in the solar system, and not some other arbitrary thing.
1) Do you view the start as the balance point, or the extreme?
2) Do you go by the point of change or the point of perception?
Then, in addition, which balance point? Which extreme do you start from? What factors affect this decision?

Let's think about this in a little more detail.
1) Do you view the start as the balance point, or the extreme?

Like I said earlier, if you think about the equinoxes as 0, and the solstices as -1 and 1, then you're likely to chose either Spring or Fall as your starting point, since we tend to want to start from 0. This kind of creates the idea that the start ought to be the same as the point where, if the length of the days were static and had no fluctuation in temperature, it would be. It's taking the global average and saying, whenever that happens, start there. The earth has reached/returned to balance, let's start something new. Then it's just a matter of which one to start by, since there are two. I think as soon as you do that it becomes subjective, a cultural or emotional preference. Do you start when things are starting to get warmer, or when things are starting to get colder? I think in general, we tend to want to call things a beginning when numbers are increasing rather than decreasing, and as such we might be inclined to choose Spring over Fall.

If you prefer to go by extremes, then you say, the December solstice is the absolute shortest day, and the July solstice is the absolute longest, and the equinoxes are just the halfway points in between. It says, from this point the days are done getting shorter; the days are done getting longer. So, from this day forward, days will start to get longer or shorter, so let's call this the start. The same, awkwardly, cannot be said for the temperature, which, thanks to the laws of physics, lags a little bit, but I'll touch on this in detail more a bit later. Then, it's just a matter of which one to start by, and I think the human psyche tends to associate increase and elongation with growth and therefore beginning, and as such prefers winter over summer for the new year. Even this though, shows the subjectivity of the observer, as after the summer solstice, even though the days are getting shorter, the length of night is increasing, yet that increase is thought of as less of a beginning than its daytime counterpart.

2) Do you go by the point of change or the point of perception?

I think most people have noticed by now that the solstices are by far neither the hottest nor the coldest days of the year. In the northern hemisphere, August tends to be the hottest month, a month or so after the solstice. Late January/February tend to be the coldest (statistically it's January but my toes tend to disagree). This is despite the fact that the solstices are in July and December.

There are a couple factors that influence this, namely to do with inertia, or at least, the tendency of things to remain the way they are. In summer, even though after the solstice the days are getting shorter, August is still very hot because of the residual heat. When it's already hot to begin with, it doesn't take that much to keep it going. Same with winter. Even though the days are getting longer, it takes a while for the extra energy bombarding that part of the earth to build up to the point it can really make a difference.

Think about it this way: if you tie a ball to a rubber band and swing it one way, then start to swing it the other, even though the point at which you stopped exerting energy in one direction and started exerting energy in the other has passed, the ball continues to go the original direction for a little bit, until the residual energy runs out and is overcome by the energy being exerted to propel it in the other direction. The temperature does the same thing after each solstice, and it takes about a month to catch up with itself.

So, if you say that the year should start when the change starts, and the days start to get longer or the days start to get shorter then you'd want to go with summer or winter. But if you say the year should start when the reaction becomes noticeable, when the ice starts to melt and the flowers start to grow, or the leaves start to fall and the air starts cooling off, then you might want to go with spring or fall.

Then, it's just a matter of deciding which of the two to start from, and to do that you have to identify the cultural/psychological factors that affect such a decision.

The question:
In what month would you start the new year?

Identify the factors that influence your decision.

Would you start in winter, spring, summer, or fall? Or should some other factor dictate the start of the year?

How would you, if at all, identify the start in the cycle of seasons? How did you come to choose that period?

Do you tend to define a system by its average or its limits? Why do you prefer that system?

Which has more significance to you, the seasons and their weather, or the length of the days? Are these factors in your decision?

How do you think cultures in the past have chosen when to start their calendar year? Why do you think they chose what they did?

How do you think living in the opposite hemisphere would affect your view on seasons and the new year? Should calendars remain arbitrary, or relational to the season where the person is?