Looking at the calendar as your humble blogger sees it, maybe as you see it in parts ... it kicks off with All Hallows etc., Advent, Christmas and the days after, till Epiphany, and that's tied in with lovely quiet winter in my eyes, my fave season.
But I have a second observance and it's Russia, from NYE to Old New Year and that's an indescribable thrill, not because of NY but because of the snow outside, deep and crisp and even, the usually 'good weather' in early to mid January, brilliant sunshine, forest, BBQ shaslik, it's really something, any who've lived in northern climes in the Slavic tradition know this, also Yorkshire. Yes. Sigh. Toboganning down hills. Mulled wine.
Another memory now cuts in - dear old lost Oz downunder and that calendar really starts the week before Christmas when the weather becomes warmer, there's the Xmas/NY as it is here but with heat, then kick in the most fabulous summer hols if you have a boat - first week of Jan to Jan 26. This is beach, beach, beach, sail, swim, camp by the Bay, day trips on the boat, walks on the pier, the carnival in the evening.
It ends Jan 26, Australia Day, dated from the 1788 first fleet from memory, although Oz itself started Jan 1, 1901, again from memory. Jan 26 is more important there, as it's the one under attack from the cabal and its lowlife fellow travellers. It's a bit like Robert E. Lee Day - I only really celebrate it for my southern friends, plus to annoy the lowlifes again tearing down statues, banning the flag and so on. I'd run the Victorian Eureka Flag for the same reason.
Within this time period is Julia's and OoL's b'day, also Chuckles. Then it kicks into the Feb 3rd to March 8th time period, within which are various b'days of people I know, Day of Men in Russia, Day of Women, Hallowe'en, more b'days ... it's a busy time.
There's a lull, then we're into Lenten things, St. George's, ANZAC Day, my father's day of demise, maybe I've forgotten some important days, please forgive me.
Your best times?
The thing is to spread your celebrations through the bad weather. Thus: Halloween - preferably the couthy Scots Halloween rather than the rather menacing American one. Guy Fawkes day. St Andrew's Day - not a big deal for most Scots but often a wonderful evening for Scottish Country Dancers. Then Hogmanay (Christmas was only just being sneaked into Scotland when I was a boy, because of the globalising push of Hollywood and the Beeb.) Then a Burns Supper. Lastly Easter - of which we seemed to make a bit more than here in the south. Nobody here ever seems to decorate eggs and then roll them down hills. Anyway, that's how to punctuate Autumn/Winter/Early Spring with a bit of communal pleasure.
ReplyDeletePeople seem to have favorite seasons but I always like that time when the seasons are changing. The first crocus sprouting in the yard heralding spring. The first fireflies sighted on a balmy May eve. And so on.
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