|
Storytime Tapestry Newsletter
The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural
awareness throughout the world.
Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia
A Hartson Dowd Column
Nov
15, 2006
INDIAN SUMMER
….. Edith Schumaker
When gusty days and blighting nights
Have dulled the rose and blacked the vine,
And whipping winds have stored the leaves
Within the hedge, it is a sign
That winter waits to blow his breath
Upon the earth and throw his spread
Of eider puff or snowy wool
On pasture land and pansy bed.
But Indian summer intervenes,
A second chance for marigolds;
The aster raise their purple heads
To catch the blue the heavens hold.
The landscape basks in summertime,
As flowers forget the omened frost.
Let my late-budding talents bloom
Before there golden hours are lost.
Indian summer is
a name given to a period of sunny, warm weather in autumn, not long before
winter. This time can be in late October or early November (Northern hemisphere)
/ late April or early May (Southern hemisphere), usually sometime after the
first frost. It can persist for just a few days or weeks.
An early American writer described Indian Summer well when he wrote,
"The air is perfectly quiescent
and all is stillness, as if Nature, after her exertions during the Summer, were
now at rest."
The dates for Indian summer are inexact because of
variation in climatic patterns throughout each hemisphere. In the northern U.S.
state of Minnesota, for example, warm Indian summer weather generally occurs
earlier: in early or mid-October rather than in early November. Meanwhile, in
San Francisco, where winter and summer temperatures vary less and some of the
warmest weather of the year tends to occur in October, the term "Indian
summer", if used at all, does not have the same meaning as it would in a
region with hot summers and very cold winters. In the Pacific Northwest, where
sunshine and warmth rarely coincide after November 1, the term Indian summer
usually refers to the "final" warm spell of October, which is
followed by several months of frequent rain and coolness.
In former times in Europe, the Indian
Summer was sometimes called Saint Luke's Summer. Saint Luke's feast day takes
place on October 18. In Italy to this day the Indian Summer is expected and
celebrated as an ancient rural tradition. It is called Estate di San Martino
(St. Martin's Summer) and is a festivity in many localities throughout the
peninsula, on St. Martin's day, November 11th. In Galicia (northern Spain) is
called Verani?o de San Marti?o and is celebrated in rural areas with Magostos
(Magnus Ustus, Big Fire or Magum Ustum in reference to the
magical nature of fire), a celebration of celtic origins in which bonfires,
roasted chesnuts and wine have an important role. In some regions, such as the
southeastern United States, Indian summer is colloquially used to describe the
hottest times of the year, typically in late July or August. These are more
commonly known as dog days.
The term has been used for well over two
centuries. The earliest known use was by French American writer St. John de
Crevecoeur in rural New York in 1778. There are several theories as to its
etymology:
* It may be so named because this was the
traditional period when Nirth American First Nations/ Navive American peoples
would harvest their fall crops.
* In The Americans, The Colonial Experience,
Daniel J. Boorstin speculates that the term originated from raids on European
colonies by Indian war parties; these raids usually ended in autumn, hence the
extension to summer-like weather was an "Indian" summer. Indeed, two
of the three other known uses of the term "Indian summer" in the 18th
century are from accounts kept by two Army officers leading retaliation expeditions
against Indians for raids on settlers in Ohio and Indiana in 1790, and
Pennsylvania in 1794.
* It could be so named because the phenomenon was
more common in what were then North American Indian territories, as opposed to
the Eastern seaboard.
*It may be of Asian Indian, rather than North
American Indian, origin. H. E. Ware, an English writer, noted that ships at
that time traversing the Indian Ocean loaded up their cargo the most during the
"Indian Summer", or fair weather season. Several ships actually had
an "I.S." on their hull at the load level thought safe during the
Indian Summer.
The term is also used metaphorically to refer to
anything that blooms late, or unexpectedly, or after it has lost relevance.
Compare to renaissance.
Modern ideas on what an Indian Summer constitutes
vary, but the most widely accepted value for determining whether one is
experiencing an "Indian Summer" is that the weather must be above
21°C (70 F) for 7 days after the autumnal equinox.
All in all, even with
the variety of opinions on this weather (or seasonal) phenomenon, the most
popular belief of Indian Summer is as follows: It is an abnormally warm and dry
weather period, varying in length, that comes in the autumn time of the year,
usually in October or November, and only after the first killing frost or
freeze. There may be several occurrences of Indian summer in a fall season or
none at all.
Since Indian Summers
are fairly common, it would be interesting to find out if there is any
correlation between the years that had no Indian summer (in a particular area)
and the type of winter weather that followed. Oh well, possibly another time
and another article but enjoy the Indian summer while it’s around, because one
thing is for certain, it never lasts!
 November Weather Lore
If the geese on St. Martin's Day (November 11) stand on ice, they
will walk in mud at Christmas.
If the first snow
sticks to the trees, it foretells a bountiful harvest.
If sheep feed facing
downhill, watch for a snowstorm.
Hartson S Dowd
hsdowd@telus.net
|
