But tomorrow is the Spring Equinox when Spring becomes official in the Northern Hemisphere. An  equinox is when light and darkness are approximately equal. In Spring the hours of daylight lengthen, and life begins its annual renewal. It’s a time to celebrate.

Spring festivals abound. Prior to the Julian Calendar in 45 BCE, the spring equinox marked the beginning of the new year. Time may have moved to January, but spring continues to mark renewal, new beginnings, and ancient customs.

DECORATING EGGS

The tradition of decorating eggs, for example, began long before Christians adapted the custom to Easter. Goddess Ostara, a moon goddess of spring and fertility, held an egg as a symbol of fertility. Her sacred animal was a hare that laid eggs. Hence the still celebrated Easter Bunny.

Druids buried eggs to insure fertility of the land. Beforehand they dyed the eggs red to symbolize menstrual blood and draw life force into the land.

In ancient Egypt and Persia people exchanged decorated eggs at the spring equinox. Hundreds of years later King Edward I’s household record shows his order to decorate 450 eggs to be given as Easter gifts.

SPRING CLEANING

Another custom of the season is Spring Cleaning, now a synonym for “deep cleaning.” More than a chance to open up the house to fresh spring air, Spring Cleaning underpins two spring festivals.

Iranian tradition celebrates the new year as Now Rouz. Two weeks prior, Iranians embark on khaneh takani, the “Shaking of the House.” The entire house is scoured, and fresh flowers are brought in to renew energy.

The Jewish custom of Pesah, Passover, also involves cleaning. Passover celebrates the Hebrew escape from Egypt when the people had no time to bake leavened bread. Prior to the festival believers deep clean their house to remove any crumbs of leavened bread that may have escaped normal cleaning.

Whether you “Spring Clean” or not, Spring is a time of Joy, Renewal and New Life. It’s about going outside and experiencing all that Nature has to offer. Enjoy this seasonal bridge between Winter and Summer.

Illustrations from Wikimedia Commons.

Garden with Tulips and Narcissus by Anita Martinz. Creative Commons Attribution.

Easter Basket with Eggs by Toelstede. Creative Commons Attribution.

The Deducting Pump 1906. Public Domain.

Mute Swan with Nine Cygnets by S. Sepp. Creative Commons Attribution.

Josh Clark. “Why do we Traditionally Clean our Homes at the Beginning of Spring?” How Stuff Works.

Kathleen Halloran. “A History of Spring Traditions.” Mother Earth Living. Feb/Mar. 1999.

Miranda Omer. “The Meaning of the Spring Season.” Mother Nature Network. Mar. 7, 2010.

Nola Taylor Redd. “Spring: Season of New Beginnings.” Live Science. Mar. 17, 2016.

The post Spring Traditions first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

When used as a noun, a spring clean is a thorough cleaning of a house, often undertaken in the spring. I always thought the term referred to colder climates where people couldn’t hang out their washing or open the windows to get the cooking smell out of the house. Now we tend to use the term any time we want to thoroughly clean, deep clean, or otherwise move the furniture to play with the dust bunnies underneath.

I bet next to “de-cluttering,”

spring cleaning is the most common home improvement

we talk about doing someday.

Or not.

So let’s suppose that against your better judgement, you decide this will be the year. Plenty of trusted sources will break the task down for you. One truthful resource suggested you schedule an entire month of spring cleaning, and after you look through the list, you might agree with me that a month isn’t long enough.

An obvious place to start would be the kitchen and bathroom. Scrub down those cabinets. Clean out the refrigerator. If you don’t recognize an item, don’t add it to the soup. The pot might overflow.

Polish up the stainless steel appliances — you can use a toothbrush to remove the food stains from stove burners. If it’s too thick, you might try a chisel, though this will no doubt ruin the stainless steel finish.

Moving on, you’ll want to wash the tiled surfaces in the bathroom. One source suggests you make a mixture with a half cup of baking soda and 2 gallons of water, apply it to the tile wall with a mop, and let it sit while you do something else. Hmmm. Would this be a good time to shampoo the carpets? After you rinse off your tiles, let them dry. Then you can reseal the grout lines.

Once these rooms are done, the rest of the house awaits. The windows probably need a week to be at their sparkling best. Wash the glass inside and out on a cloudy day. If you wash while the sun’s out, your cleaner will dry too quickly and uh-oh, you’ll have streaks. Use a toothbrush to loosen dirt on the window tracks and a vacuum cleaner crevice tool to remove it. Polish any metal window hardware.

Next, clean the window coverings. If you have curtains, you can take them down, remove any metal fastenings, put them in the air fluff cycle in the dryer. Take them out and hang immediately or the cleaning pixies will punish you. Or you can use the broom method shown above.

Dust everything that doesn’t move, including the light bulbs.

There’s more, including power washing the house. But I’m exhausted. Perhaps I’ll develop a dust allergy. No. Then I’d just have to wear a dust mask and carry on.

The good news is that Thursday, April 7th, is No Housework Day. Go ahead, get a manicure for your chipped nails and work worn hands. For 24 hours you’ll be off the hook.

???

Featured Image: Woman and Girl Sweeping. 1860 from Der Kleiner Kinderfreund. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

Pictures:

House Cleaning Day. 1915 from Judge Magazine. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

Soup Pot taken from The Ideal Cook Book, 1902. No known copyright. Wikimedia Commons.

Woman Cleaning Curtains. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

“20 things You Should Deep Clean this Spring.” House Beautiful. Mar 23, 2016.

“Spring Cleaning Checklist. Martha Stewart Living. April 2007.

“Spring Cleaning Made Easy.” HGTV.

“Spring Cleaning: The Ultimate Guide.” Better Homes and Gardens. 

The post “Spring-Clean” is a Verb first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.