Starting Afresh

Kameron Hurley's newest LOCUS column discusses making a fresh start with the turn from winter to spring:

Plotting the Way Forward

Noting that the ancient Romans marked the New Year in March rather than January, Hurley muses about the signs of spring that show up in March. This year, she finds particular hope in the change of seasons because a potential end to the COVID crisis may be in sight. She ponders what is meant by "returning to normal": What will go back to the way it was? What will have changed permanently? As she puts it, “'normal' is a shifting target. After the last year, our world will not be quite the same."

One change she welcomes is the decline of shopping malls. Here I disagree. I'm a big fan of malls, even though with online ordering I haven't frequented our local mall in recent years nearly so much as I used to (especially after its chain bookstore closed). Sure, a green-space town center with a cluster of shops, within easy walking distance of home, would be lovely. But that's not likely to sprout up out of nowhere near us (all the ground within walking distance being occupied by houses or, if one has the stamina to hike one-point-three miles to the main road, existing stores). Nor does it describe the neighborhoods where I spent the years between age eight and moving out of my parents' home to get married. We lived in the suburbs. There was nowhere to walk except other houses and, a longish trek from our home, a major highway at the entrance to the development. A very long bike ride could take us to a shopping strip with one large store and several smaller ones. When the first actual mall opened near us (in the greater Norfolk, Virginia, area), in my teens, I was thrilled about the concept of shopping at a bunch of stores in the same location, with plenty of parking, under a ROOF! That last was a big deal in one of the more rainy regions of the country. And I still think malls are a great idea in places where most people depend on cars to get anywhere, which describes every city we've lived in throughout our married life.

But I digress. Some of the changes Hurley welcomes, I can agree with. As for the ambition to "re-think our crowded buildings in crowded cities that have few to no greenspaces," that sounds desirable, but such a revolution can't occur with the simple wave of a wand. Shifting many jobs to remote work is a change I'd like to see made permanent, if only for the sake of our grown children who've benefited from it. What about universal mask-wearing? I look forward to not having to do that all the time, yet I agree with Hurley on the advantage of getting sick less often. I could embrace a custom of wearing masks out and about when suffering from a mild illness, as many people do in Japan. As a probable side effect of the COVID precautions, I haven't had a cold in over a year. Hurley also looks forward to future advances in medical science as a result of discoveries made in the course of vaccine research. Like wars, pandemics can produce occasional positive technological side effects.

I've missed attending church in person, but I hope after we resume live gatherings our church will continue to record Sunday services for availabilty to people who can't be present for one reason or another. The pandemic has compelled us to try many such innovations that would be helpful to hang onto. The ubiquity of restaurant meal ordering, for example—it's become easier than ever before to get home-delivered meals from a wide variety of our favorite places, on websites instead of over the phone, prepaid with a credit card. With the success of virtual conventions in the past year, maybe some of them will continue to provide an online track for fans who can't make it to the physical location. However, there's at least one minor negative about the increasing shift to electronic media, from my personal viewpoint: More and more periodicals are switching to digital-only. I like magazines I can hold in my hands and, if worth rereading, store on a shelf.

A related trend that predated COVID but may have accelerated recently is the convenience of being able perform many activities such as financial and government transactions over the Web. No need to drive to the bank to transfer funds, the post office to buy stamps, or the motor vehicle office to renew a car registration. This trend is likely to continue and expand. Of course, the downside involves less convenience for people who don't have a computer (my 90-year-old aunt, for one, but many citizens lack computers and their associated functions from poverty, not choice) or adequate internet access. As has often been pointed out recently, computers with internet connections are no longer luxuries but household necessities on a level with water, electric, and phone services.

Hurley concludes by invoking March, which heralds spring in much of the northern hemisphere, as the time "when we celebrate surviving the very worst the world could throw at us, and plot a new way forward." Or, as Brad Paisley says in his optimistic song "Welcome to the Future," highlighting modern marvels formerly enjoyed only in the realm of science fiction, "Wherever we were going, hey, we're here."

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

Why Groundhog Day?

Did the groundhog see his shadow in your neck of the woods? I've often wondered why a sunny day should forecast a longer winter. The notion seems backwards. It turns out there's a sort of rationale for the lore: Warmer air holds more moisture, conducive to clouds, so in winter a bright day is more likely to be colder than a cloudy day. (Hence my father's occasional remark, which baffled me as a kid, that it was too cold to snow.) Why do we rely for weather prediction on a large rodent? The habits of animals—badgers, bears, hedgehogs, woodchucks, etc.—used to be consulted for weather omens in many parts of Europe. German immigrants to North America brought this lore with them and attached it to a local creature in their new home, the groundhog. Some information about Groundhog Day on Fact Monster:

Groundhog Day

Why February 2? In pagan tradition, specifically Celtic, this date is Imbolc, a fertility-focused holiday heralding the earliest hints of spring:

Imbolc Traditions

This is the time when livestock begin to give milk and farmers start to prepare the earth for sowing. This website recommends spring cleaning in honor of Imbolc. It also describes the making of the Brideog, a straw effigy decorated with flowers, shells, etc., and dedicated to Brigit.

Associated with St. Brigid's day (February 1):

St. Brigid's Day

In pagan Ireland, Brigid (or Brigit) was a fire goddess. As St. Brigid, she is the "Irish aspect of divine femininity." Her feast day, according to the website, "celebrates the arrival of longer, warmer days and the early signs of spring on February 1."

Early February was also when the ancient Romans celebrated fertility in the festival of Lupercalia.

All I can say about the "spring" associations of the date is that they must have originated in parts of Europe with much shorter winters than those in the upper half of the North American east coast! We could only dream of seeing "signs of spring on February 1" around here.

In the Christian liturgical year, February 2 commemorates the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple and the "purification" (after childbirth) of the Virgin Mary. The day is commonly called Candlemas because it was traditional for worshipers to bring their supply of candles to church to be blessed on that day. The "light" symbolism is appropriate to the celebration of this date as the halfway point between winter and spring. As an Anglican, I view the blending of pagan and Christian customs on seasonal holidays as a feature, not a bug. After all, the Supreme Deity is the Creator of nature.

In parts of England at one time it was considered bad luck to leave up your Christmas decorations after Candlemas. So when I don't dismantle the tree until after Epiphany (January 6), I'm not running late. I'm actually super early!

When the human species leaves Earth for other planets and star systems, I expect some of our holidays to voyage outward with us—for instance, Thanksgiving (all people enjoy feasts and understand gratitude) and Christmas (decorations and gifts have cross-cultural appeal). Groundhog Day probably won't come along, though, in my opinion. It's too closely tied to the seasonal cycles of one hemisphere of a single world.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt