As a non-religious person, every year I’m becoming more and more attracted to the idea of celebrating the natural rhythms of the earth instead of celebrating man-made (in my view) occasions like Christmas or Easter, (I’m using Christian examples because my background is more Christian than anything else, but any man-made occasion will do as an example). As it happens today is the March Equinox (or “Spring Equinox”, here in the Northern Hemisphere) and therefore, the first day of Spring. An occasion worth celebrating!
The first day of spring is a reminder of the cycle of life’s forces that is well beyond the control of any human. In fact, no matter what humanity does to this planet, some plants (at least!) will surely survive though humans may not. Perhaps it’s strange to some of you, but it comforts me to know that nature will ultimately have the upper hand, though it may be a long time coming and the cost may be very great. Despite being poisoned by pollution and/or nuclear war the planet will live on, serenely oblivious to what has happened to it; at least until our sun collapses, but that’s another story.
The snow outside is deep and may not be the last of it for the year either, but spring will eventually conquer winter and gardeners everywhere will get to see the fruit of our labour of last autumn: the new plants we dug in, the new bulbs we planted, transplants we attempted. What survived and what succumbed to the vagaries of life? We’ll soon know, so happy Spring!
Enjoy this old video from Gordon Lightfoot’s early days. Early Morning Rain.
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