Hello everyone everywhere! How are you doing? Is spring in the air already where you live or it's still windy-snowy landscape outside? I was looking around the other day and a thought nested in my head: we all know that there are four seasons in the year, but do we know what people do during these seasons in other countries? Of course, some of you will right away say: Sure, I do know - Japanese stare at Sakura in spring, or Australians surf all the year round and have winter when all normal people have summer, or Chinese work at their rice fields all the time. Personally for me, it was very surprising to learn that Floridians pick strawberries in March and if you plant anything outside later than February it will most likely burn down in May or will get eaten by bugs and not give any harvest. The only plant that managed to survive in my small kitchen garden through all the summer was basil. After this experiment, I came to the conclusion that things I would do during spring in Ukraine are not very applicable somewhere like Florida, for example. But then the question still remains: will someone from Sweden or Canada or Puerto Rico do the things similar to what we do in Ukraine? And I mean not just gardening, but I mean things on a bigger scale. That is why I decided to write about the variety of things Ukrainians do during spring and believe me - we do A LOT!!!
So first and foremost somewhere from the middle of February, everybody starts to moan in social networks that winter is too long and they start a countdown to spring (just nine months prior to that everyone was moaning when would summer heat kick in, then half a year back everyone was suffering from summer heat and dreaming about the pleasant warmth that fall brings). Human nature is a complex of contradictions and in order to learn patience and endurance, our civilization was "planted" on a planet with four seasons ))) The first week of spring in Ukraine passes by in arguments "to celebrate or not celebrate the 8th of March, International Women's Day". What for to have an argument like that you might wonder? Or maybe you might even think "Wow, there is such day on the calendar?" Well, we have a complicated relationship with this day. At the beginning of the 20th century, this day was suggested to become the symbol of women's fight for their rights and then it was used by first soviet political leaders as a day to celebrate womanhood. Years later it evolved into a bit creepy celebration that was imposed on men in former soviet republics like blackmail from the side of women: Better you give me a good present for the 8th of March or I will make your existence unbearable. My childhood memories about this holiday are mostly connected with my dad coming home with tulips and having festive dinner with our neighbors next door that are our family friends. At school, we were greeting our female teachers and my classmates-boys were giving girls some awkward presents. I liked to have a somewhat provocative lesson with my students the day before the 8th of March where they would have some psychological tests on "Men vs Women types of behavior" just to have a good laugh afterward when the results would show that in some situations there is not much difference between us. The best thing about the 8th of March is that it's a day off and if it falls on Friday then you are lucky to have a long weekend.
After the flower and perfume apocalypse on the 8th of March is over, those who survived it start thinking about Easter! Sometimes there is not too much time between those two dates but the amount of things that have to be squeezed in is incredible. Of course, if you live in an apartment you don't need to worry much: you will just have to scrub clean all the corners of it but in comparison to a small homestead house, believe me, it's nothing. In case you or your family or your parents/grandparents live in a house, get ready for the fun! It is pretty traditional to clean all your house after winter pretty thoroughly: all the windows, all the curtains, all the rugs, and carpets have to be washed and cleaned, all the winter clothing and shoes have to be put away (unless it's still cold outside), the most diligent house owners very often will also refresh paint on window panes, paint the walls and floors, and do a lot of cleaning outside the house in the yard: the fences will be painted and the pavements cleaned, the flower beds deweeded. On top of all the house upkeeping work, this period of spring is very intensive on gardening work. A lot of Ukrainian families that reside in their own houses live off the land next to their home. When the soil gets warm enough a lot of seeds go into it. My grandparents on both sides did a ton of gardening before Easter. I remember long wooden boxes with young plants of tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers and cabbage sitting in the veranda of my grandfather's house. As soon as it got warm enough outside all that green treasure was moved to the garden beds and was planted in our kitchen garden in addition to carrots, onions, parsley, dill, beets, peas, lettuce, garlic and potatoes that would go right into the soil. My grandfather and I had a tradition of planting potatoes together. He says that it grows extremely well after my hands )) That's why it is believed that I am the greenest thumb in my family. As you might know, planting all that variety is just the first stage lasting all spring and snowballing a lot of other gardening activities that will last till fall when the harvest will be collected. Very often a lot of those described above things involve some kind of bonus or as I call it "fresh air sham" especially if parents living in a rural area want to lure their urban kids to come and help with gardening. The sham usually involves promises of barbeque and sitting around a fire pit after all the tasks are fulfilled. If this type of bait does not work, the kids are promised a fair share of the harvest in fall and other food supplies during winter time.
So the biggest celebrations throughout the whole spring period are the 8th of March, Easter (with changeable date) and the 1st and 2nd of May, the Labor day - leftovers from the soviet union times. The Labor day is greatly enjoyed because very often it provides an option of small vacation if connected to weekend days. And that's another time when parents try to lure their urban kids to help with different field works.
If the astronauts from the ISS took a careful look on Ukraine during the spring period from the Earth orbit, I am more than sure they would see something like we, regular land walking people, see when looking on an ant hillock: a bunch of very busy looking creatures darting back and forth around their homes and in their gardens.
What are you doing during springtime in your country? How much time do you spend outside and do you enjoy it?
As s my favorite actor Robin Williams used to say: Spring is nature's way of saying: Let's party!
And behave!
Sincerely yours.
So first and foremost somewhere from the middle of February, everybody starts to moan in social networks that winter is too long and they start a countdown to spring (just nine months prior to that everyone was moaning when would summer heat kick in, then half a year back everyone was suffering from summer heat and dreaming about the pleasant warmth that fall brings). Human nature is a complex of contradictions and in order to learn patience and endurance, our civilization was "planted" on a planet with four seasons ))) The first week of spring in Ukraine passes by in arguments "to celebrate or not celebrate the 8th of March, International Women's Day". What for to have an argument like that you might wonder? Or maybe you might even think "Wow, there is such day on the calendar?" Well, we have a complicated relationship with this day. At the beginning of the 20th century, this day was suggested to become the symbol of women's fight for their rights and then it was used by first soviet political leaders as a day to celebrate womanhood. Years later it evolved into a bit creepy celebration that was imposed on men in former soviet republics like blackmail from the side of women: Better you give me a good present for the 8th of March or I will make your existence unbearable. My childhood memories about this holiday are mostly connected with my dad coming home with tulips and having festive dinner with our neighbors next door that are our family friends. At school, we were greeting our female teachers and my classmates-boys were giving girls some awkward presents. I liked to have a somewhat provocative lesson with my students the day before the 8th of March where they would have some psychological tests on "Men vs Women types of behavior" just to have a good laugh afterward when the results would show that in some situations there is not much difference between us. The best thing about the 8th of March is that it's a day off and if it falls on Friday then you are lucky to have a long weekend.
After the flower and perfume apocalypse on the 8th of March is over, those who survived it start thinking about Easter! Sometimes there is not too much time between those two dates but the amount of things that have to be squeezed in is incredible. Of course, if you live in an apartment you don't need to worry much: you will just have to scrub clean all the corners of it but in comparison to a small homestead house, believe me, it's nothing. In case you or your family or your parents/grandparents live in a house, get ready for the fun! It is pretty traditional to clean all your house after winter pretty thoroughly: all the windows, all the curtains, all the rugs, and carpets have to be washed and cleaned, all the winter clothing and shoes have to be put away (unless it's still cold outside), the most diligent house owners very often will also refresh paint on window panes, paint the walls and floors, and do a lot of cleaning outside the house in the yard: the fences will be painted and the pavements cleaned, the flower beds deweeded. On top of all the house upkeeping work, this period of spring is very intensive on gardening work. A lot of Ukrainian families that reside in their own houses live off the land next to their home. When the soil gets warm enough a lot of seeds go into it. My grandparents on both sides did a ton of gardening before Easter. I remember long wooden boxes with young plants of tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers and cabbage sitting in the veranda of my grandfather's house. As soon as it got warm enough outside all that green treasure was moved to the garden beds and was planted in our kitchen garden in addition to carrots, onions, parsley, dill, beets, peas, lettuce, garlic and potatoes that would go right into the soil. My grandfather and I had a tradition of planting potatoes together. He says that it grows extremely well after my hands )) That's why it is believed that I am the greenest thumb in my family. As you might know, planting all that variety is just the first stage lasting all spring and snowballing a lot of other gardening activities that will last till fall when the harvest will be collected. Very often a lot of those described above things involve some kind of bonus or as I call it "fresh air sham" especially if parents living in a rural area want to lure their urban kids to come and help with gardening. The sham usually involves promises of barbeque and sitting around a fire pit after all the tasks are fulfilled. If this type of bait does not work, the kids are promised a fair share of the harvest in fall and other food supplies during winter time.
So the biggest celebrations throughout the whole spring period are the 8th of March, Easter (with changeable date) and the 1st and 2nd of May, the Labor day - leftovers from the soviet union times. The Labor day is greatly enjoyed because very often it provides an option of small vacation if connected to weekend days. And that's another time when parents try to lure their urban kids to help with different field works.
If the astronauts from the ISS took a careful look on Ukraine during the spring period from the Earth orbit, I am more than sure they would see something like we, regular land walking people, see when looking on an ant hillock: a bunch of very busy looking creatures darting back and forth around their homes and in their gardens.
What are you doing during springtime in your country? How much time do you spend outside and do you enjoy it?
As s my favorite actor Robin Williams used to say: Spring is nature's way of saying: Let's party!
And behave!
Sincerely yours.
A pink blooming chestnut tree
Apricot blossom
Wild violets in my grandfather's garden
Spring green river slopes
Dew drops on dill
Spring chickens at my grandfather's home
All photos were taken by me. All right reserved.
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