Signs of Spring
When I was a college student in Madison, WI, you knew spring had arrived when you would see people having picnics or going tanning outside - in 45-degree weather. That or when someone would point out that a robin had landed on a tree in Bascom Hill and the brightly colored Memorial Union terrace chairs were brought out from storage after a long winter respite. In this neck of the woods, one could say that spring has arrived when you're past "false spring" (when you get a few days of weather above 60 degrees that then drastically goes to 30 degrees before steadily ascending upwards) and you start hearing commotion about Cubs and Sox tickets.
The hallmarks of spring are everywhere, even beyond the Midwest. There are many spring celebrations around the world, some of them existing for thousands of years like Nowruz (Persian New Year) and Kha b-Nisan/Akitu (Assyrian New Year). Christian Easter is associated with bunnies, eggs, chicks, and other springtime animals and flowers adorn homes and places of worship. Passover seders include eggs and green karpas to symbolize spring, renewal, rebirth, and new beginnings as Jewish families recall the Passover story.
During Holi, colored powder is thrown around to symbolize love and the arrival of spring in South Asia. On Baba Marta, Bulgarians wear red and white strings called martenitsa until they see a flowering tree or a bird. The Malayalam holiday Vishu celebrates new hope and prosperity, as many items prepared on that day are meant to symbolize luck and joy in the coming year. Ramadan, which happens to be around the springtime over the next few years and is not necessarily a springtime celebration, is a period of self-reflection and changing actions for the better. Lastly, St. Patrick's Day, which holds much significance for various Irish communities and American celebrants, fills the Chicago River with green and marks the coming of spring in the city of Chicago.
All of these holidays, though vary in practice, harken to the desire for change. Whether it's a change of season, habits, or even how much time we spend indoors - change happens all around the world. There's much joy to be had in seeing the world bloom in color and even if we can't exactly tell when spring arrives, it's sure a welcome sight to see.
Have questions? Send us an email!
- Katherine Ellison, Glen Grove Principal
- Aurora Joaquin, Glen Grove Speech-Language Pathologist
- Katelyn Kelleher, Glen Grove Psychologist
- Hedy Helfand, Glen Grove English Langauge Learning Teacher
- Marie Chang-Pisano, Glen Grove Reading Intervention Associate
- Sylvia Gorski Duarte, District Title III Family Resource Teacher
- Lindsey Lurie, District Multilingual Instructional Coach
Email: GGCommunityProject@gmail.com