via "Ember Days" Wiki entry:
> In the liturgical calendar of the Western Christian churches, Ember days are four separate sets of three days within the same week — specifically, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday — roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that are set aside for fasting and prayer. These days set apart for special prayer and fasting were considered especially suitable for the ordination of clergy. The Ember Days are known in Latin as the quattuor anni tempora (the "four seasons of the year"), or formerly as the jejunia quattuor temporum ("fasts of the four seasons").
> The four quarterly periods during which the ember days fall are called the embertides.
> The Ordo Romanus fixed the spring fast in the first week of March (then the first month), thus loosely associated with the first Sunday in Lent; the summer fast in the second week of June, after Whitsunday; the autumnal fast in the third week of September following the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14; and the winter fast in the complete week next before Christmas Eve, following St. Lucy's Day (Dec. 13).
> Other regulations prevailed in different countries, until the inconveniences arising from the want of uniformity led to the rule now observed being laid down under Pope Urban II as the law of the church, at the Council of Piacenza and the Council of Clermont, 1095.
> These dates are given in the following mnemonic:
> Dant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia / Ut sit in angariâ quarta sequens feria
> Or in an old English rhyme: "Fasting days and Emberings be / Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie."
> The ember days began on the Wednesday immediately following those days. This meant, for instance, that if September 14 were a Tuesday, the ember days would occur on September 15, 17, and 18.
Please correct me if I have the wrong days. The Vatican 2 "Catholic" church does not follow these anymore:
> Ember Days were effectively abolished as mandatory days of fasting and abstinence on February 17, 1966, by the Apostolic Constitution Paenitemini issued by Pope Paul VI. Additionally, they were removed from the universal liturgical calendar during the 1969 revision of the Roman Calendar, which delegated their observance to the discretion of national bishops' conferences.
Also I don't know if there is a secular connection to the season for agriculture, but the various almanacs like the Farmer's Almanac seems to track or mention the days on their sites:
https://www.farmersalmanac.com/ember-days
They note that each season gave thanks for certain agricultural events: spring gave thanks for light and new growth like flowers, summer for the wheat crop, fall for the grape harvest, and winter for the olive crop.
> According to folklore, the weather conditions of each of the three days of an Embertide foretells the weather conditions for the following three months.
Catholic encyclopedia on "Ember Days": https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05399b.htm
Prayers for our country and those in need
