The Seasons

The most obvious means of time-keeping over longer spans were the natural seasons. Cultures dating back as far as thousands of years BC were aware of the cyclic seasons, which are named as Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Now, in modern times, we know the precise reason of the occurrence of seasons. In ancient times however, seasons formed the basis of time-keeping. From precise observations and mathematical calculations it was noted that the days and nights were unequal in the course of entire cycle. There were two days in the cycle on which day and night were of almost equal duration. These were known as equinoxes and they marked the peak of the seasons: spring and autumn. Likewise the day of maximum daytime marked summer, whereas the day of maximum night-time marked winter. This cycle was referred to as a year and, when quantized in the unit of “day” (solar/sidereal), was roughly equal to 365 days.