What are the "dog days of summer"?

Question

What are the "dog days of summer"?

Answer 1

The phrase Dog Days or "the dog days of summer", refers to the hottest, most sultry days of summer. In the northern hemisphere they usually fall between early July and early September whilst in the Southern hemisphere February to March. The actual dates vary greatly from region to region, depending on latitude and climate. Dog Days can also define a time period or event that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress.

Contents

The term "Dog Days" was used by the Greeks (see, e.g., Aristotle's Physics, 199a2), as well as the ancient Romans (who called these days caniculares dies (days of the dogs)) after Sirius (the "Dog Star"), the brightest star in the heavens besides the Sun.

Popularly believed to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" - Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813.

The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose just before or at the same time as sunrise (heliacal rising), which is no longer true owing to precession of the equinoxes. The ancients sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.

Answer 2

The expression "Dog Days of Summer" is a reference to the hot months when the dog star, Sirius, is prominent in the sky.

Answer 3

It is a latin origin. The 'dog days of summer' are coming usually in August. This is the period when Sirius, which is a star called by the Romans "the small dog" is raising at the same time than the sun.

The Romans people used to call Sirius "Canicula" and they said it was the star which caused the heat period.

In Roma, they were even making sacrifices of red-brown dogs to please Sirius.

Here is a translated extract from Pliny The Elder (Please forgive me, I am french and not english, so my translation might be approximate)

"About Canicula, who ignores when raising, she is arousing the sun? The effect of this star are the more powerful on the earth: the seas are boiling (!!!!!) when it raises, wine are fermentating in the cellars, the still waters are getting agitated. Egyptians give the name of Oryx to an animal who, they said, is facing the star when it raises, fixes its eyes on her and worships her, to say it, by sneezing. Dogs also are more exposed to rabbies during this period of time; there is no doubt about it."

Sure, there is no doubt Sirius is a real trouble... All this sounds serious !

Answer 4

If you see dogs laying in the sun moving slowly soaking up the rays, those are the days they are speaking of.

Answer 5

Mid-August marks the peak of the Dog Days of Summer. The Dog Days are associated with the heaven's brightest star, Sirius. Currently, Sirius can be found in the same region as the sun. Legend says that the heat from the sun mingles with the star, producing extra-hot days.

Incidentally, the Perseid meteor shower, one of the year's strongest displays, reaches its peak intensity about the middle of August too. Looking toward the northeast late in the evening, stargazers may see more than 50 of these very colorful and bright meteors every hour. The greatest numbers are seen after the moon sets and for those viewing from dark sites.

The night of August 10 is magical for Italians. It is called 'San Lorenzo night'. Each year on this night, Italians turn their eyes skyward in the hopes of seeing a shooting star, one of the many that will fall during the Perseid Meteor Shower. They believe that wishes will come true for those who stop to remember the pain suffered by San Lorenzo and with every falling star they say:

“Star, my beautiful star, I wish that…...”

It is a beautiful and magical experience to be outdoors on a warm evening in the "dog days of summer", listening to the crickets and gazing at the stars...