Quarter Days and Cross-Quarter Days

The Origins of Groundhog Day and More!

Andrew E. Rothovius
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Ever wonder how Groundhog Day got started, why weddings were traditionally in June, or why we hold elections in the fall? The timing of present-day rituals and holidays may be based on the calendars of the ancient Celts and other cultures!

The year was divided into four major sections, called quarter days. Then, each section was divided in half, creating four cross-quarter days. Together, these made an eight-part year that reflected the natural procession of the seasons.

The Quarter Days

The days that marked the four major divisions of the year were called Quarter Days; they originally marked the solstices and equinoxes, fitting readily into the rhythm of the ways people farmed. As the 12-month Roman calendar was adopted for both civil and religious purposes, all of the Celtic days began to conform more closely with the liturgical year of the Christian church and became identified with major religious festivals.

[Editors’ note: Historians are divided as to whether the ancient Celts observed the solstices and equinoxes (what we call quarter days). Some believe that the Celts divided the year into just four major sections: Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh (what we call cross-quarter days). For this article, we will assume that the ancient Celts observed all eight divisions of the year.]

March 25, Lady Day

Around the time of the spring equinox, Lady Day became the traditional day for hiring farm laborers for the planting and harvesting seasons ahead. (In the church calendar, this day became the feast of the Angel Gabriel’s annunciation to the Virgin Mary that she would be the mother of Christ.)

June 24, Midsummer Day

Around the time of the summer solstice, this day was the midpoint of the growing season, halfway between planting and harvest. (The English church later celebrated this day as the birthday of John the Baptist, who foretold the birth of Jesus exactly six months later.)

September 29, Michaelmas

Around the time of the fall equinox, the harvest commenced on this day, and there were great fairs and festivals. This started the custom of early autumnal elections, because it was a convenient time for people to gather. Elections came to be shifted to November in the American climate, where the harvest season was more stretched out.

December 25, Christmas

This observance originated as a winter solstice festival and celebrated a time of resting and gathering fertility for a new round of sowing and reaping. The Celtic rituals merged easily with the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus. Farm workers were usually paid for their year’s labor at Christmas, giving them reason to celebrate and three months rest before the next season.

The Cross-Quarter Days

These days marked the midpoint between a solstice and equinox. For the ancient Celts, these marked the beginning of each season, with the major two divisions being winter (Samhain), starting the dark half of the year, and summer (Beltane), starting the light half of the year.

February 2, Candlemas

Candlemas acquired its English name from the candles lit that day in churches to celebrate the presentation of the Christ Child in the temple of Jerusalem.

Originally, this day was called Imbolc (lambs’ milk) because the lambing season began. It was also called Brigantia for the Celtic female deity of light, calling attention to the Sun’s being halfway on its advance from the winter solstice to the spring equinox.

Weather and Planting

Much of this day is grounded in the seasons—estimating how soon spring-like weather will come and when to plant the crops. 

  • It was not held as a good omen if the day itself was bright and sunny, for that betokened snow and frost to continue to the hiring of the laborers 6 weeks later on Lady Day.
  • If it was cloudy and dark, warmth and rain would thaw out the fields and have them ready for planting.

Our Groundhog Day is a remote survivor of that belief. Though we recognize animal behavior isn’t always the way to judge planting dates, the tradition continues, often with a wink and a smile.


May 1, May Day

May Day, or Beltane, was the halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, and marked the beginning of summer for the ancient Celts. It was a day for dance and song to hail the sown fields starting to sprout.

Beltane was a time for the pairing of young couples, though not yet their wedding, which would not come until the next Cross-Quarter Day, after three months of seeing how they suited each other.

Today’s June weddings came from this tradition; given impatience of the couple, the waiting period came to be shortened to a six-week span.

August 1, Lughnasadh

Lughnasadh was the wedding of the Sun god Lugh to the Earth goddess, causing the ripening of crops.

  • The church transformed it into an offering from the first fruits of the land; the first loaves baked from the new wheat were offered at the Loaf Mass, which became corrupted in pronunciation to Lammas.

October 31, Samhain

Samhain (“summer’s end”), or Halloween, marked the beginning of winter for the ancient Celts, and many historians believe that it served as the start of the new year in the Celtic calendar. It was the day when the cattle were brought in from pasture; those needed for the winter’s supply of meat would be slaughtered. Since Samhain was the death-night of the old year, it came to be associated with ghosts and graveyards. It has happier associations too, such as apple bobbing, which was a form of telling fortunes for the new year.


We hope you found this history interesting! It’s amazing how today’s holidays reflect the rich fabric of our past.


The 1993 Old Farmer's Almanac (with updates)

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John the Baptist did not tell

John the Baptist did not tell of the birth Jesus. John was thought to have been born 6 months before Jesus. His mother (Elizabeth) and Mary were pregnant at the same time. John foretold the coming of Jesus ministry. By the time John was old enough to talk Jesus was already born.

I'm a 21 female who's last

I'm a 21 female who's last name is Sullivan and are full celtic which I just recently discovered, but I have always been attracted the nature and all its surroundings. It has always made me feel alive andand quite different only because I would always occupy myself with what Mother Earth gave us :). But I invited faerys to be free and safe to live but only with pure heart and pure intentions with all love,and also I started to sing from my heart!feeling like snow white :) and birds,all air totems and other animals come to me!All the time! It's mostly the wren, mockingbird,woodpecker even a huge blue bird that I have no idea what it is but was speechless for it was only once.. and red cardinal.A hawk ALWAYS is seen soaring high above me at random times of the day!These are all meanings, I just wish I knew more!?.. plus I wake up with hoof prints and little foot tracks along with 3 and a half long hands with 4 fingers scratching on the dirt by my door,might I add I have a 'blasted oak' about 6 feet from my door that happened around February of this year and electrocuted our power box! That is what started a nack on the Fae. but then I found out I'm a hundred percent irish and caught up on what I've always needed to know about my heritage and remember what eas!. But if anyone can tell me what and why these hoof prints and little hand prints and scratching marks?? What is it they want? any yes I was giving honey as an offering to the fae to hopefully see them or just to be around life with them!.. BUT PLEASE LET ME KNOW ABOUT THESE HUGE HOOF PRINTS THAT ONLY WALK AT NIGHT, OH AND LONG BLACK ANIMAL HAIR HAS BEEN FOUND WHERE THE PRINTS WERE more than once..

While Andrew Rothovius'

While Andrew Rothovius' article is very good, he makes a major (and very common) mistake by stating that May Day (or Beltane) is the halfway point between Spring and Summer. As DruidJames pointed out, May Day is the BEGINNING of Summer, just as Samhain (Hallowe'en) is the beginning of Winter.

Somehow, Midsummer and Midwinter have become confused in the minds of so many (including, apparently, the Old Farmers' Almanac) as the beginning dates for these seasons. Anyone at all familiar with the history of our seasonal celebrations as established throughout time, as well as our calendars, can easily see that Midsummer and Midwinter are just that-- the MIDDLE of those respective seasons, NOT their beginning.

I've attempted to get the Almanac staff to correct this mistake, but have had no success.

Thank you for your feedback.

Thank you for your feedback. We believe that the author had meant that Beltane was the halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, rather than halfway between the starting points of the Celtic spring and summer seasons (which are Imbolc and Beltane, as you had mentioned). However, we have made some revisions to the text for clarity and accuracy, which we hope will help. Thank you for your interest in The Old Farmer's Almanac.

Samhain was a significant


Apple Magic

Dookin' for Apples


The Apple and the Mirror

Dreaming Stones
Go to a boundary stream and with closed eyes, take from the water three stones between middle finger and thumb, saying these words as each is gathered:

I will lift the stone
As Mary lifted it for her Son,
For substance, virtue, and strength;
May this stone be in my hand
Till I reach my journey’s end.

(Scots Gaelic)
Togaidh mise chlach,
Mar a thog Moire da Mac,
Air bhrgh, air bhuaidh, ‘s air neart;
Gun robh a chlachsa am dhrn,
Gus an ruig mi mo cheann uidhe.

Carry them home carefully and place them under your pillow. That night, ask for a dream that will give you guidance or a solution to a problem, and the stones will bring it for you.


Samhain (Scots Gaelic: Samhuinn) literally means “summer's end.” In Scotland and Ireland, Halloween is known as Oï¿½che Shamhna, while in Wales it is Nos Calan Gaeaf, the eve of the winter's calendar, or first. With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints' Day, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had been canonized that year, so the night before became popularly known as Halloween, All Hallows Eve, or Hollantide. November 2nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of all who the departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in a gallimaufry of celebrations from Oct 31st through November 5th, all of which appear both to challenge the ascendancy of the dark and to revel in its mystery.


In early Ireland, people gathered at the ritual centers of the tribes, for Samhain was the principal calendar feast of the year. The greatest assembly was the 'Feast of Tara,' focusing on the royal seat of the High King as the heart of the sacred land, the point of conception for the new year. In every household throughout the country, hearth-fires were extinguished. All waited for the Druids to light the new fire of the year -- not at Tara, but at Tlachtga, a hill twelve miles to the north-west. It marked the burial-place of Tlachtga, daughter of the great druid Mogh Ruith, who may once have been a goddess in her own right in a former age.


The Samhain fires continued to blaze down the centuries. In the 1860s the Halloween bonfires were still so popular in Scotland that one traveler reported seeing thirty fires lighting up the hillsides all on one night, each surrounded by rings of dancing figures, a practice which continued up to the first World War. Young people and servants lit brands from the fire and ran around the fields and hedges of house and farm, while community leaders surrounded parish boundaries with a magic circle of light. Afterward, ashes from the fires were sprinkled over the fields to protect them during the winter months -- and of course, they also improved the soil. The bonfire provided an island of light within the oncoming tide of winter darkness, keeping away cold, discomfort, and evil spirits long before electricity illumined our nights. When the last flame sank down, it was time to run as fast as you could for home, raising the cry, “The black sow without a tail take the hindmost!”

Even today, bonfires light up the skies in many parts of the British Isles and Ireland at this season, although in many areas of Britain their significance has been co-opted by Guy Fawkes Day, which falls on November 5th, and commemorates an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the English Houses of Parliament in the 17th century. In one Devonshire village, the extraordinary sight of both men and women running through the streets with blazing tar barrels on their backs can still be seen! Whatever the reason, there will probably always be a human need to make fires against the winter’s dark.

That is some awesome

That is some awesome information - I learned a few things. Samhain is also Hekate's night, a Celtic goddess of death and transformation, the crossroads, and patron goddess of witches and magic.

Just so you'll know,

Just so you'll know, Hekate/Hecate is a Greek Goddess. She is the Goddess of the crossroads, of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy. She was celebrated in Greece on August 13th when offerings were left at crossroads.

...and actually, Hekate was

...and actually, Hekate was pre-greek but adopted into the greek pantheon (where she is most known) like many gods and goddesses. Her origins are thought to be from Asia Minor.

Terrific info. I enjoyed the

Terrific info. I enjoyed the explanations and the comments by DruidJames.

I just love this stuff! I

I just love this stuff! I find it endlessly fascinating, I am sure if I had lived in a previous life, I would have lived by those old customs.

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