April's Spring

We had a spring snow storm this morning where I live. Big heavy wet flakes coated the trees, bushes, branches, and benches. By the afternoon it was gone, thanks to the sun’s intensifying rays, that’s the nature of spring storms. The upper atmosphere is cold enough to make snow, but the surface is warm, so it doesn’t last.

Spring teases us like that for several weeks. An enveloping warmth one day and the next day near freezing, then warm again. It’s a lot like a theatrical drama. The exposition to let us know what season it is, then the rising action of interest and mystery of anticipation and character development and finally the climax of continuous warmth, called spring. You’d think we’d get used to it since it happens every year.

According to Kathy Galimberti of the AccuWeather staff, the first day of spring is celebrated differently in global cultures.

In Poland, a 16th-century tradition is to throw a large straw filled doll called a Marzanna into the river to drown a cold, dreary winter. The decorated dolls symbolize the end of winter.

In Bosnia spring is welcomed with the festival of Cimburijada. People gather for the celebration of scrambled eggs. Eggs are a symbol of new life, a new season; many hundreds are scrambled in big pots and given out for free.

I like Japan’s spring welcoming. During cherry blossom time people boat on the Imperial Palace moat and host parties under the blooming trees. The Japanese have been doing that in Tokyo for centuries.

Shakespeare’s sonnet 98 is my favorite spring acknowledgment.
“When proud-pied April, dress’d in all his trim, Hath put a sprit of youth in every thing…”