When does summer begin in the southern hemisphere?
According to our western tradition, summer in the south would begin at the Southern Solstice, when the Sun’s declination reaches its maximum southerly value (December 21 or 22, depending). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice check the table on the right side, for the column marked Solstice Dec; it shows date and time. For example, the Summer beginning late in 2008 will begin on December 21, just after noon, Universal Time (used to be called GMT). According to the Asian tradition, the Summer is centered on the Solstice (it begins about a month and a half before, and ends about a month and a half after). Normally, they’d pick the New Moon closest to a date a month-and-a-half before. In China, for example, Spring begins on the second New Moon after the (northern) winter solstice, which also happens to be the Chinese New Year — they begin the year and Spring on the same day! However, I do not know if the Asian culture (w
