Winter
“What
good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?”
John
Steinbeck
Today
is the first cold day of winter in Birmingham—and when I say cold, I mean in
the 40’s. Everything is relative, right. It signals the end of summer, and even
autumn. We’ve moved right on to winter even though the leaves are still mostly green
on the trees.
I am not
a winter person. I know folks who find cold and snow simply magical, who love to
bundle up and go outside to walk or bike for miles in it. I even know a few who
love to strap on a pair of skis or snowshoes and head out into the thick of it.
I am not among them.
For me,
winter is a time to layer on the clothes, and endure. Sad, huh. I think that
comes from having spent my formative years in the mountains where snow was a familiar
sight and not a welcome one. Just now, I was looking for winter quotes and just
the pictures of snow falling made me shiver.
Winter
is a season in our year but also a season in our lives. According to Katherine
May, in her book Wintering, the business of winter is transformation. In
many stories and fairytales, winter is dominated by the ice queen, or the white
witch, who changes the land with her every step. In Gaelic mythology her name
is Cailleach. She freezes everything with just her touch or her breath. And,
until she is satisfied, the earth stays frozen. Paradoxically, she is also the
creator—the “mother of the gods, the gruff, cold originator of all things.”
(Wintering, p.67) According to legend when Cailleach’s reign is over in
May, she turns to stone and the goddess of spring, Brighde, takes over.
The cold of winter is
essential to renewal. It is the period of disintegration, the time in which the
caterpillar inside the chrysalis turns to mush, and the seed lies dormant in
the earth. It is a season of perceived death, of suspended animation, of hibernation,
when the body of an animal slows itself to nearly imperceptible levels of
breath and heartbeat. It is meant to be a time of deep rest.
We humans are so out of
step with the natural rhythm of life on planet earth that we will not let a
little winter freeze stop us. We’ll skip the resting business, and rush right
on to accomplishing the next thing on our list. But while we’re rushing about, let’s
try to remember this: the cycle of life includes this period of deep
sleep, of little death. Not as a mistake, but as a necessary step toward
renewal. Without winter, there would be no spring. And, God knows, we all crave
spring.
In the Spirit
Jane
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