Editing Quarter days (section)

==England and Wales==
{{See also|Old Style and New Style dates}}
{{quote box | Assuming you can remember when Christmas occurs, a useful [[mnemonic]] to place the remaining quarter days is to count the letters of the relevant months. Thus, in March, there being five letters, you can know that the quarter day is the 2'''5'''th. June has four letters and the quarter day is the 2'''4'''th, and September, having nine letters, has its quarter day on the 2'''9'''th.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Young|first1=G. C. M.|title=Quarter days|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/quarter-days-dz9dcccfwv8|access-date=11 June 2019|work=[[The Times]]|publisher=[[Times Newspapers]]|date=15 April 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190611181343/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/quarter-days-dz9dcccfwv8|archive-date=11 June 2019|location=[[London]]|url-status=live|quote=Assuming you can remember when Christmas occurs, a useful mnemonic to place quarter days is to count the letters of the relevant months. Thus, in March, there being five letters, you can know that the quarter day is the 25th. June has four letters and the quarter day is the 24th, and September, having nine letters, has its quarter day on the 29th.}}</ref>
 |source= G. C. M. Young, ''[[The Times]]'', 2006
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}}
The English quarter days (also observed in [[Wales]] and the [[Channel Islands]]) are
*[[Lady Day]] (25 March, the [[Feast of the Annunciation]]);
*[[Midsummer Day]] (24 June, the [[Nativity of St John the Baptist|Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist]]);
*[[Michaelmas Day]] (29 September, the Feast of [[St Michael]] and All Angels); and
*[[Christmas Day]] (25 December, the [[Nativity of Jesus|Feast of the Nativity of Jesus]]).

Falling close to the Spring equinox, Lady Day was the first day of the civil year in England, Wales and the British dominions (but not Scotland) [[Calendar (New Style) Act 1750|until 1752]] (when it was harmonised with the Scottish practice of 1 January being New Year's Day). The British (personal) [[Fiscal year#Tax year|tax year]] still ends on "Old" Lady Day (5 April under the 'new style' ([[Gregorian calendar|Gregorian]]) calendar, which in the 18th century corresponded to 25 March under the 'old style' [[Julian calendar]]: the [[Calendar (New Style) Act 1750]] advanced the calendar by eleven days. 5 April is still the [[History of taxation in the United Kingdom#Start of tax year|end of the British tax year for personal taxation]].<!-- Please do not add the myth that an extra day was added in 1800. This claim is based on a misunderstanding of the law and not founded on any historical evidence. For details, see the History of Taxation article. -->

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 Saints' Day|All Hallows]] (1 November). 

At many schools, class terms would begin on the quarter days; for example, the autumn term would start on 29 September, and thus continues to be called the [[Michaelmas term]], especially at more traditional universities.<ref>{{cite web|author=Staff|work=Gazette Supplement|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwoxacuk/localsites/gazette/documents/supplements2013-14/Lectures_and_Seminars,_Michaelmas_term_2013_-_%281%29_to_No_5035.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110201728/http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwoxacuk/localsites/gazette/documents/supplements2013-14/Lectures_and_Seminars,_Michaelmas_term_2013_-_%281%29_to_No_5035.pdf |archive-date=2015-01-10 |url-status=live |title=Lectures and Seminars, Michaelmas term 2013 |publisher=Oxford University|page=1|date=9 October 2013|access-date=24 June 2014}}</ref>