Monday, March 31, 2008

April 2008 Christine's Corner

Spring—ah, spring! Sweet spring! I’m writing this on the vernal equinox, the day that the hours of light once again equal the hours of darkness, the first official day of spring. From now until the summer solstice in June, the longest day of the year, the days will get longer and longer as the light and heat of the sun return to those of us in the northern hemisphere. As we leave behind the darkness and cold of winter, we rejoice and herald the return of the light.

All around us are the burgeoning signs of new life and fertility. The thawing earth and melting snow bring about that quintessentially spring-like state of messy wetness which the poet e. e. cummings so accurately describes as “mud-luscious.” Peony shoots and crocuses are pushing up through the soil and into the light. Buds are springing forth on the trees and shrubs. Birds are beginning to sing. Life in all its variety is reasserting itself after winter’s dormancy.

Within the Christian tradition, spring is also a time of liturgical rebirth. The darkness and introspection of Lent are cast aside for the Easter celebration of resurrection and new life. It is no accident that this religious celebration coincides with the coming of spring. In fact, the reason the date of Easter changes year to year is that it is determined by seasonal and celestial activity. Officially, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox (March 21). This year, Easter is early, about as early as it is possible for Easter to be, falling just two days after the first day of spring.

Combining Christian and pagan elements, the Easter celebration is all about life’s resilience and fertility. Christians celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead with special church services. Christians and non-Christians alike celebrate the secular Easter with candy, bunnies, and colored eggs. The Easter bunny is an obvious symbol of fertility. Likewise, the eggs we decorate and hide are symbols of birth. Their bright colors also remind us of the flowers that are beginning to grow, and their hiding places in the grass are reminiscent of the nests in which birds will tend first their eggs and then their hatchlings.

As we welcome in the spring, we too show signs of new life. Craving warmth and sunlight, we start spending more time outdoors, bursting from our houses rather like shoots springing up from the ground. Shrugging off the heavy layers of our winter clothing, we dress in lighter, brighter colors. Little girls wear Easter dresses in the yellows, purples, and pinks of the crocuses, daffodils, and other spring beauties that are appearing in our lawns and gardens.

Emotionally too we feel reborn. As nature turns from winter darkness and we cast aside the heaviness of our winter clothes, we feel lighter—in all senses of the word. Spring brings new possibilities. We get carried away by the euphoria, everyone falling victim to that most wonderful of ailments, “spring fever.” It can be hard to concentrate on work or on school, because we just want to be outside, basking in the sunshine, listening to the birds, digging in our gardens, part of the infinite variety of LIFE!

With our lighter feelings and our lighter clothing come lighter eating habits. We trade the warm, filling stews and casseroles of winter for fresh, cool salads. Winter foods suddenly seem too heavy and rich, our bodies naturally craving the tender greens that are seasonally available in spring (see “Eating Seasonally for Health and Variety” in this issue). So, spring can be time of casting off physical heaviness as well.

The New Year may be the season for resolutions, but spring is the season for real renewal. We are emotionally renewed, we eat lighter food, our energy increases, and we become more active. As a result, we begin to shed those few extra pounds we gained over the winter. Spring is a great time to get healthier, because the energy of spring naturally moves us in that direction.

As I think about spring, the recurring image that comes to mind is that of bursting forth or casting off in order to move toward light or lightness. Young plants push through the soil, chicks break out of their shells, buds thrust out from branches, people come out of their houses and throw off coats and sweaters. We are all like butterflies shaking off our cocoons and spreading our wings. We lift our faces to the warmth of the sun and we open our hearts to life and all its possibilities. Everything feels possible; hope fills the air.

Like e. e. cummings, many poets have written about spring. The lines of two of them seem to me particularly apt. In “Spring,” Gerard Manley Hopkins writes, “Nothing is so beautiful as spring— / … What is all this juice and all this joy?” D. H. Lawrence welcomes spring with characteristic passionate enthusiasm:

Let it be spring!
Come, bubbling, surging tide of sap!
Come, rush of creation!
Come, life!

While many beautiful words have been written about spring, I think that the essence of spring might be expressed in just one word: “Yes!” In spring, nature says “yes” to life, and life, in its many and varied forms, offers back a resounding affirmative. In the cycling of the seasons, spring is the time for boldly striking forth on new ventures, casting off doubts and fears and sorrows, and opening up to hope and excitement and possibility.

We know that winter will come again, bringing its own slower, heavier rhythm and allowing us time for much-needed rest and quiet introspection. But, now, it is spring, and like the natural world, we can hardly wait to burst into bloom. Let us open our arms and our hearts to spring and all its promise.

Yes!

~posted by Christine, 4:16 PM