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In
olden times, the seasons, which dramatically altered the weather and
the daily allotment of light, profoundly affected how people ordered
their daily lives. Today, with our central heating, artificial light,
year round supplies of fruit and vegetables, as well as our social
calendars, the arrival of Spring has a less direct impact on our
lives. Most of us do, however, notice the addition of color from
blossoming flowers and newly green trees and bushes, the feel of a
warmer sun, and the songs of returning songbirds.
The
symbols of Spring from antiquity in European art were flowers or the
sowing of crops. In the late Middle Ages, numerous Books of Hours
were privately commissioned by the nobility and upper classes for use
as prayer books. These small calendar books, which were written and
painted by hand, often illustrated the Labors of Months depicting
peasants working in the fields at seasonal tasks. March, for example,
showed peasants pruning vines or plowing, sowing and harrowing crops.
Spring
was also a time for religious observances. Lent occurred during the
waning days of winter. Easter, long the most important religious
festival for the Church, symbolized the Resurrection and the
celebration of life.
In
Vienna, the Festival of Violets was once the harbinger of Spring.
The Babenberg Dukes, who ruled Austria from the 10th to the 13th
century, set aside their affairs of state and joined the Viennese in
the countryside to celebrate the discovery of the first violet each
Spring. According to legend, the man who found this symbol of Spring
covered his treasure with his hat, then raced to report his find to
the Duke. The lucky man was rewarded with the honor of dancing with
his choice of maidens at the Festival of Violets.
For
above all else, Spring was the season for youth and joy. Longer days
and warmer temperatures provided opportunities for love not easily
secured in the smoky, smelly, crowded indoor worlds of winter.
Courtship has a long association with Spring in medieval art and literature.
Today,
the blossoming of snowdrops (snowbells in German--Schneegloeckchen)
in the Vienna Woods and wetlands and their arrival in Vienna's
Naschmarkt alerts the Viennese to the nearness of Spring. Snowdrops
are quickly followed by the blooming of forsythia and spring crocus,
then tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths in Vienna's many parks and
gardens. In early May, lilac bushes and white and red flowering horse
chestnut trees add to the riot of color of the Viennese Spring.
In
A Medieval Book of Seasons by Marie Collins and Virginia
Davis, the SECRETUM SECRETORUM or "Secret of Secrets",
based on a 12th or early 13th century Latin translation of a 10th
century Arabic treatise on government and statecraft, decrees that
Spring begins "when the sun enters the sign of Aries in
mid-March and ended when it enters Cancer in mid-June". It
consisted of 93 days, 23 hours and 15 minutes. They are still days,
hours, and minutes to be enjoyed. |
