Hal-an-Tol!

Hal an tol, jolly rumble-oh!

We've been up long before the day-oh!

To welcome in the summer

To welcome in the May-oh!

For summer is icumen in

And winter's gone away-oh!

Here we stand, as the sun rises on the month of May. The BBC is probably poised to launch its Springwatch programme on us yet again. Yet there we have one of our oldest folk songs telling us that we are welcoming in the summer, for it is but six and a half weeks to midsummer. I know that I have technically jumped the gun on the actual date of the ancient festival of May Day (also known as Beltane (Irish) or Calen Haf (Welsh)) by a few days, but the words of the song clearly speak of welcoming in the May, so I have timed this post to go out at sunrise in Newcastle upon Tyne on the 1st of May.

Will I have been up long before the day? Probably, probably not! Let's just hope that it feels like the beginning of summer.

Why am I so fascinated by all of this? It is a reaction to something that always annoys me in desk diaries, which tell me that summer begins on the 21st June, which is patently nonsense. More importantly, when I am writing of times which did not have this sort false view of the seasons, if I talk about "the beginning of summer" I need it to be clear that I am talking about early May, not late June.

Candlemas

I've been thinking again over the last few days about the seasons.

It is accepted by the majority of people that summer begins at the Summer Solstice, autumn at the Autumnal Equinox, winter at the Winter Solstice and spring at the Vernal Equinox. So in the UK we have the BBC running their Autumn Watch programme in November and their Spring Watch programme in May.

We seem to base these seasons more on whether we expect the weather to be warm or cold than anything else. Yet there is an older perception of the seasons which survive in the expressions Midsummer and Midwinter. These clearly refer to the longest and shortest days of the year respectively. So the start of winter is also midwinter?

The major pointers are what pagans refer to as the Fire Festivals - Candlemas, Mayday, Lammas and Hallowe'en. These occur roughly three months apart and also midway between the equinox/solstice dates. These then, surely, are the real beginning of the seasons. Therefore, cold though it may be, we are now entering into Spring.

I was out in the garden at the weekend and was delighted to see some bulbs that we put in last year poking their heads through the soil. Even better, all along the hedgerow there is a mass of green buds, ready to burst into leaf as soon as the conditions are right.

It seems to me that things are definitely Springing!