Quarter days

Imagine it's your 5th birthday and you want to have a party. You know that your actual birthday is on a specific day, let's say October 1st. But for your party, you want to invite your friends on the weekend closest to your birthday.

Now imagine that a long time ago, people didn’t know the exact dates for things like the solstices (the longest and shortest days of the year) or the equinoxes (when day and night are almost the same length). They knew about four special days each year that were about three months apart. These were called the "quarter days".

The quarter days were:

- March 25th or Lady Day
- June 24th or Midsummer Day (also known as St. John's Day)
- September 29th or Michaelmas Day
- December 25th or Christmas Day

People would use these days as markers to help them know when certain things should happen. For example, farmers would use them to know when to plant or harvest their crops.

Nowadays, we know the exact dates for things like the solstices and equinoxes. We also have things like calendars and clocks to help us know when to do certain things. But it's still interesting to learn about how people used to figure out what time of year it was, and the role that the quarter days played in that.