What’s the Deal with Spring Cleaning?
We’ve all certainly heard the term “spring cleaning”. Does it seem like an archaic concept to you? The whole notion of being seasonally-driven to inventory your entire home just once a year isn’t all that realistic, especially if you live in a climate where winter doesn’t exactly keep you housebound.
Since it’s almost spring, I did a little research into the matter, and it seems that Spring Cleaning is probably derived from an ancient Jewish tradition of deep-cleaning the entire house in preparation for Passover. You see, one rule of Passover states that for the entire 8-day holiday, you cannot eat anything leavened (meaning that it contains yeast) and, in fact, you must make sure that there is nothing leavened in your entire house. Not even a crumb. Thus, the deep-cleaning ritual to make sure not a crumb of leavened “chametz” remains on premises.
In seasonally-driven climates, this tradition has been universally co-opted as a great excuse for an annual deep-cleaning ritual. Spring is the time when we open all of our windows and let some fresh air in.
It’s also, obviously, the time of year when the days start getting longer. (Although technically they’ve been waxing since winter solstice in December, it’s right about now that we really start to notice the expanded evenings.) This extra daylight gives us extra energy, and I think we can all agree that it takes an extra bit of energy to do an immaculate cleaning job.
Let’s take the concept of Spring Cleaning one step further and think about areas in our life where we can afford to let something go. Maybe it’s a bad habit that doesn’t serve us anymore, or a friend who we’ve grown out of, or an attitude towards something that we’re ready to shed. Spring is the time for looking ahead, and sometimes that means we need to drop some baggage in order to lighten up our load.
Or maybe for you it just means a good closet cleaning. And if so, don’t forget that Goodwill is right down the street! Because the nice thing about lightening your own load is that it can often mean contributing to someone else’s fortune.
Spring Cleaning,
Amy
08 Apr 2009
Leslie
I always love this time of year to cleanse. :) Just went to Goodwill and did an internal cleansing of sorts to move into a fresh, lighter spring! Thanks AD for sharing with us.