|
In British and Irish tradition, the quarter days were the four dates in each year on which servants were hired, school terms started, and rents were due. They fell on four religious festivals roughly three months apart and close to the two solstices and two equinoxes. The significance of quarter days is now limited, although leasehold payments and rents for land and premises in England are often still due on the old English quarter days. The quarter days have been observed at least since the Middle Ages, and they ensured that debts and unresolved lawsuits were not allowed to linger on. Accounts had to be settled, a reckoning had to be made and publicly recorded on the quarter days.〔Clines, David J. A. (1998). ''(On the Way to the Postmodern: Old Testament Essays, 1967-1998 )'' (Continuum International Publishing), p. 801.〕 ==In England== The English quarter days (also observed in Wales and the Channel Islands) are * Lady Day (25 March) * Midsummer Day (24 June) * Michaelmas (29 September) * Christmas (25 December) Lady Day was also the first day of the year in British dominions (excluding Scotland) until 1752 (when it was harmonised with the Scottish practice of 1 January being New Year's Day). The British tax year still starts on "Old" Lady Day (6 April under the Gregorian calendar corresponded to 25 March under the Julian calendar : 11 days new style calendar advance in 18th century plus 1 day due to the twelfth skipped Julian leap day in 1800; however it was not changed to 7 April when a thirteenth Julian leap day was skipped in 1900). The dates of the Quarter Days observed in northern England until the 18th century were the same as those in Scotland.〔Fitton, Mike (1994) (''Quarter Days and Courts'' )〕 The ''cross-quarter days'' are four holidays falling in between the quarter days: Candlemas (2 February), May Day (1 May), Lammas (1 August), and All Hallows (1 November). The Scottish term days, which fulfil a similar role as days on which rents are paid, correspond more nearly to the cross-quarter days than to the English quarter days. There is a mnemonic for remembering on which day of the month the first three quarter days fall (Christmas being easy to recall): the second digit of the day of the month is the number of letters in the month's name. So March has five letters and Lady Day is 25 March; similarly June has four letters and September nine, with Midsummer Day and Michaelmas falling on the 24th and 29th respectively. At many schools, class terms would begin on the Quarter days; for example, the autumn term would start on September 29, and thus continues to be called the ''Michaelmas term'' well into the 21st century, especially at more traditional universities. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Quarter days」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|