Certainly not in all other countries. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything. Yes, Midsummer in Sweden is celebrated on the weekend near the solstice, but in other contexts the seasons there start at the same time as in the US. What countries are you thinking of?

.. Clytemnestra not-so-much!

Not that Clytemnestra was (apparently) physically ugly or anything, mind you, just the whole axe-murderer thing she did.

Even if she was sorely provoked & Agamemmon kinda deserved his unhappy homecoming.

@22. Dragonchild asks : “Dry ice can form at low atmospheric pressure??”

Yup – seems so. Martian atmospheric pressure anyhow since it makes up a fair bit of the red planet’s polar (dry & wet) ice caps.

(One sauce for that – Nine Planets (dot) org – linked to my name for this comment.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clytemnestra

&

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_of_Troy#Birth

&

http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/gemini.htm

which ties in nicely with the stars Castor & Pollux as well.

So anyway, happy first day of spring, Martians! Don’t forget to try to stand up malagor eggs today.

Hmm .. Not the Princess Helium – Dejah Thoris – eggs? No!

[Checks' the wiki-link, sighs with relief. Great birds of Barsoom that was a worry for a sec!]

The most beautiful women always hatch from eggs – just ask Helen of Troy!

(Clytemnestra not-so-much! )

@ 2. csrster :

Happy First Day of Autumn and Fair Dinkum’ me ol’ Billabong to any austalo-Martians reading.

Indeed. Don’t forget one hemisphere’s spring is another hemisphere’s autumn. Well spotted csrster.

Oh & G’day from Down Under / Up Over depending on your Point-o-view!

@ 12. tracer :

.. Mars does one thing the Earth does not: It gets substantially CLOSER to the sun in certain parts of its orbit than in others. It’s orbit is very eccentric. While the the Earth’s aphelion distance is only about 3% farther out than Earth’s perihelion distance, Mars’s aphelion distance is a whopping 20% farther out than Mars’s perhelion distance. .. [Snip] .. Southern seasons on Mars would be like living in the Canadian outback during the dead of winter, then living in the Sahara at the height of summer.

Except far more extreme temps~wise (at the cold temp end anyhow) & without the breathable atmosphere or faintest hint of biosphere.

Also well spotted.

Kia ora mate, and thanks. Problem is here in the southern hemisphere we’re experiencing spring right now and heading into summer. So happy first day of autumn to you cobber!

Mars does one thing the Earth does not: It gets substantially CLOSER to the sun in certain parts of its orbit than in others. It’s orbit is very eccentric. While the the Earth’s aphelion distance is only about 3% farther out than Earth’s perihelion distance, Mars’s aphelion distance is a whopping 20% farther out than Mars’s perhelion distance.

As on Earth, Martian perihelion corresponds very closely with the Northern Hemisphere’s Winter Solstice. This means that the Winters and Summers in the Northern hemisphere of Mars are pretty mild, but the Winters and Summers in the Southern hemisphere of Mars are made vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly more severe.

Southern seasons on Mars would be like living in the Canadian outback during the dead of winter, then living in the Sahara at the height of summer.

Maybe someones written a book about this…

I think what you meant was higher temperatures, not lower.