Sunday, March 20, 2016

Spring 2016




Spring arrived in Atlanta a half hour past midnight. The new season brought an end of two weeks of high temperatures in the 70's and 80's. So it's a bit topsy-turvy, I'm pleased to leave behind the Season of Ice even if the northeastern U.S. could get nailed with another snowstorm next week. 

No calendar in the western world has described the seasons better than the French Revolutionary Calendar used between 1793 and 1805. Unfortunately the calendar failed for a host of reasons, none of them related the appropriately descriptive days of the month. Instead of March 20, think of Germinal and her thirty days:


Germinal

1. Primevere - Primrose
2. Plantane - Plane Tree
3. Asperge - Asparagus
4. Tulipe - Tulip
5. Poule - Hen
6. Bette - Chard Plant
7. Bouleau - Birch Tree
8. Jonquille - Daffodil
9. Aulne - Alder
10. Couvoir - Hatchery
11. Pervenche - Periwinkle
12. Charme - Hornbeam
13. Morille - Morel
14. Hetre - European Beech Tree
15. Abielle - Bee
16. Laitue - Lettuce
17. Meleze - Larch
18. Cigue - Hemlock
19. Radis - Radish
20. Ruche - Hive
21. Gainier - Judas Tree
22. Romaine - Lettuce
23 Marronnier - Horse chestnut
24. Roquette - Arugula or Rocket
25. Pigeon - Pigeon
26. Lilas - Lilac
27. Anemone - Anemone
28. Pensee - Pansy
29. Myrtille - Blueberry
30. Greffor - Knife

May your first day of spring be the harbinger of warm weather and wind in your sails.


Sources:

Photos and Illustrations:
Spring poem, Songs of Innocence, William Blake, 1789;
Allegory of Germinal, public domain, wikipedia.fr,French National Library and Bureau of Measures, Paris

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