That’s it, it’s official! Both the planetary and metrological shifts have passed. It is spring! It may be blustery, grey, drizzly, occasionally sunny, and up north still snowing, but it feels so different.
Why?
It’s all to do with that big yellow things we occasionally see in the sky. Monday was the vernal/spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. But what is this all about and why is everyone raving on about it?
At exactly 21:24 GMT on Monday 20th March, the sun was directly over the equator meaning day and night were (nearly*) equal in length. Equinox means equal night in Latin. As our calendar doesn’t entirely fit with the solar system, the date of the equinox varies between the 20th/21st each year. Along with the summer equinox and the solstices, these are the 4 points in the year that are marked by the eternal dance of the sun and the earth. Regardless of your religious/cultural/social beliefs and geographical location, these events happen and do have an effect on our days and therefore our lives.
*I could get very geeky and precise about this, apparently the precise point of equality is a few days earlier but due to the whole curvature of the earth stuff, we have to wait a bit. Read this from the Met Office if you want to find out more!
It is the effect on our lives that has led to it being a part of cultures and religions around the world. Wouldn’t you want to celebrate the light over darkness? I know I certainly do! Everyone is talking about how the evenings are lighter (and bemoaning the changing of the clocks this weekend which so cruelly takes an hour away from us, if only for a couple of weeks)
Around the world, religious festivals such as Holi in Hinduism and Passover for the Jewish community have links to the start of spring. Ancient Egyptian and Roman cultures had festivals for Gods associated with this time. While these were more generally linked to Spring, the Persian festival of Nowruz has been celebrated for over 3000yrs and is still a major festival in countries such as Iran, Iraq, and other Western and Central Asian and Black sea countries. It is full of light, fire, colour, dance, food, and gift giving. See The Guardian photo gallery of this year's Nowruz
Many Christian cultures also have elements of spring within their Spring festival of Easter. The symbolism of eggs and baby animals reminds Christians of Jesus being reborn, bringing new life. In Italy, Easter is the time seeds are planted for the coming season. Many countries, whether Christian or not, paint elaborate designs on eggs as part of spring rituals.
And now comes the bit where I’m going to be, for some maybe, a bit controversial. For this letter, I did a bit of religious digging. Many believe that Easter overlaid earlier non-Christian festivities and this is where many of the customs and rituals come from. Indeed this is the case with Christmas and Winter Solstice. We often hear of the festival of Ostara being described as an Ancient Pagan/Norse festival, but there is very little evidence that these cultures celebrated the Spring Equniox in any major way, beyond celebrating spring coming. Most references to Eostre as the Goddess of Spring and any festivals associated with her/Spring only start appearing in Christian era texts such as Bede. The words Ostara and Eostre have linguistic roots in various Germanic and further back Indo/European terms for Spring, rather than it being definitively linked to a Goddess or festival. Ostara as a pagan festival was created in the mid-twentieth century to complete the Modern Wiccan wheel of the year, the practices celebrating the Solstices and Equinoxes. Without a spring festival, they were left with a gap in the calendar. For both Pagan and Christian cultures was a festival created in part to fill the ritual gap that so many other cultures and religions had? In terms of Easter, as we don’t actually know when the events of Easter actually happened, were Christian leaders attempting to link natural/astronomical significance to a biblical event? Spring is an obvious time of the year to remember Easter’s message of rebirth, with its natural events of the land waking up and light returning.
I was surprised to learn that Northern European cultures didn’t have major Spring rituals in pre-Christian times. Was life too busy with lambing and preparing of fields? Was it more important for rituals to mark the darkest points at the Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice to ensure the light would return? Maybe once Easter was established this is why so much natural symbolism became associated with it. Whether you are religious or not, people wanted to celebrate the wonder and joy that was happening in the world. The lack of ancient historical evidence doesn’t take away its importance, cultures have developed many new rituals over the years.
For me, certainly this year, it feels like Spring is the most important time of the year to celebrate. I have felt the lengthening days lift me physically and mentally. These last couple of weeks it has felt like all the signs I’ve been eagerly documenting for weeks have finally burst out fully. Even on grey days, there are verges of yellow, clouds of pink, and skies full of song. My body wants to celebrate this.
So, this nudge is for you to celebrate that spring really is here. You might stop to notice the blossom and flowers. How about actually stopping to smell them? Have a vase of daffodils in your house. Maybe this will be the time to start creating with nature - might you draw a daffodil or some blossom? I think that’s what I’m going to do. The sun is shining between showers here, just enough time for a quick sketch.
Another sign of Spring is trying to ski in slush...