Springtime

One of the things that I appreciate more and more about Chinese medicine is the wisdom of its observations of the seasons. Especially the season we are currently in, Spring. On the Chinese lunar calendar, Spring began this year on February 3rd, even though the vernal equinox isn't until March 20. The beginning of Spring varies each year on the Chinese calendar, but it is always earlier than solar Spring, some time in early February or even late January.

Why do I think this is wise? Well, Spring is associated with the wood element, and a tree can either be an inspiring and graceful example of life's resilience, beauty and tenacity or it can be a big damn nuisance if it's growing through your sidewalk. The emotion associated with Spring is anger/impatience/frustration, but it has a positive aspect too -- drive/focus/determination. All seasons on the Chinese calendar and their associated elements have this duality, but it is particularly easy to see in the Spring. Almost every year, there is a spell of "unseasonably mild" weather sometime in late January or early February. When it is over and cold weather returns, people are suddenly fed up with Winter. They get crabby and bent out of shape, and call it cabin fever. The organ associated with Spring is the liver, whose nickname is "the free and easy wanderer." The liver tends to get clogged up with the over-eating (and drinking) and reduced physical activity of the Winter season. The combination of this physical clogging with cabin fever psychology leads inexorably, year after year, to people feeling angry, impatient and frustrated sometime around now. If you're lucky, or know what to expect, you'll bend this potentially destructive energy to a project of some kind which requires a little drive, focus and determination. This time of year is especially well-suited to cleaning up your act and getting a fresh start, whether that involves going on a fast or cleaning and re-organizing your home, office or shop.

The other thing I appreciate about Spring starting in early February is that usually in this part of the world (central Pennsylvania), the first day of spring is the first day that the tips of the daffodils and other early Spring flowers first poke through the earth. It will be weeks or months before they bloom, but even if snow covers the ground, underneath the snow there are these stirrings of new life. And trees, even though they will be without leaves for a couple more months, have begun sending sap from their roots up toward the canopy. Making syrup is a great springtime activity -- it gets you out of the house, gets your sap flowing, and requires a little drive, focus and determination to see it though, from dozens of gallons of watery sap to a gallon or two of sweet syrup.

Sprouts and things that grow upward, like asparagus, are especially good to eat in this season, and springtime eating rituals (dandelions, maple syrup and shad around here) persist long after we have access to almost any food at any time from the local supermarket. The ancestral memory persists of creeping out when there's still snow on the ground to find something, ANYTHING, green to eat, or fresh meat after a long weary winter of eating dried, salted, preserved or buried food. Or starving.

Even in our modern, sealed-off world we still are connected to the earth, which starts awakening right around the time ancient Chinese observations say it does.

The color associated with the wood element is green, of course, and I chose the bamboo photograph in the background of this blog to indicate the season. The photo will change at each season. The next season, Summer, is due to start on May 5th this year.