Samhain \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Thanksgiving Moon<\/p>\n
The snow came. \u00a0Wet and heavy, it presses down on tree branches, putting those with leaves under stress. \u00a0These snows can crack limbs as it did to the cedar trees we cultivated for so long just off our deck.<\/p>\n
These early snows are not the snows of romance and greeting cards. \u00a0They clump and weigh, turn immediately into slush underfoot, leaking through footwear. \u00a0They don’t last long since the same temperatures that create them, once daylight appears, will begin to melt them.<\/p>\n
They can drop the temperature since snow cover is one of the factors that keeps a winter cold. \u00a0It’s the albedo effect. \u00a0White snow reflects the sunlight back into space, where it warms the air, but not the ground. \u00a0That’s also why Minnesota’s tendency under previous climate regimes to keep snow cover around for the whole winter made us colder. \u00a0If the earth is bare, it soaks up some of the sun’s heat and raises air temperature near the ground.<\/p>\n
In the months after Samhain the sun recedes, losing power. \u00a0Not only are the days shorter, but the angle of the sun spreads what sunlight we receive over a larger area, weakening its intensity. \u00a0These are not months favorable to the vegetative world. \u00a0In reading an article about Samhain in the New York Times the writer reminded me of a key element of the Samhain season, the tallying up of the amount of fodder available to feed animals.<\/p>\n
When the number of animals exceeded the available feed, farmers culled their herds until they were sustainable. \u00a0This meant that there was often meat at Samhain, but the slaughter added another death related aspect to the holiday.<\/p>\n
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Samhain \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Thanksgiving Moon The snow came. \u00a0Wet and heavy, it presses down on tree branches, putting those with leaves under stress. \u00a0These snows … Continue reading Moving into Winter<\/span>