Geimhreadh an Earraigh/ Winter Spring!
I have often heard people say that the weather is skinning, and most often it’s in March or early April when the weather is most unpredictable in fact the only predictable thing about the weather in early spring is it’s unpredictability! March is one of the seven long months with 31 days. Spring begins on the first of March for meteorologists the days become longer and we begin to notice a grand stretch in the evenings but the poor brindled cow was not so fortunate!
Legend has it that there once was a brindled cow who boasted that the bad weather of March could not kill her so on hearing this March decided to borrow three days from April and killed and skinned the cow and thus the first three days of April were known for bad weather and became ‘skinning days’
However, things in Ulster were worse presumably because it’s so much further north! The three days became nine!
Trí Lá lomartha an loinn
Trí lá sgiuthanta an chliabhreáin
Agus trí lá na bó riabhaighte!
The legend is similar, the cow, the blackbird and the stonechat were boasting of how the evil winds of March failed to kill them and they were proud of surviving, March overheard this conversation and decided to borrow nine days from April, three to skin the black bird, three to punish the stonechat and three for the brindled cow.
These three, six or nine days were also called borrowing days and one way or another they describe a period of cold and wet weather during the end of March and beginning of April. A Spanish legend explains the weather as follows; A shepherd was worried about his flock and so he asked March to be kind and in return he would offer a lamb, March was kind and the flock flourished. There were three days left in the month and March came to collect his debt, the Shepherd who was pleased with the progress of his flock refused. March in fury borrowed three days from April and used the remaining three days of the month to punish the shepherd by causing the death of his flock due to bad-weather.
I have only found one story that explains fine weather in the end of March, it suggests that the last three days of March are fine and sunny to bring the blackthorn into bloom and after that it gets cold again and that period of cold is called the ‘Blackthorn Winter’.
Right now on Cape birds sound the dawn chorus with gusto, the wren and the starlings have returned to build their nests under the eaves again. Every day we see them going back and forth thousands of times with tiny springs of pampas grass to make their nests and we admire their tenacity and industry. Gulls wheel about screaming and the cockerel Napoleon preaches loudly to his ladies who continue to ignore him as they peck furiously at fresh grass and unsuspecting worms. Cows can be heard calling to their errant calves. In the tunnel the tomatoes and nasturtiums are marching ahead with speed while more delicate blooms are just peeping out all offering the promise of a warm and lovely bountiful summer.
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