Light depends on when sun rises and when it sets. We have four important days in a year when something significant happens. The first one in spring is vernal equinox. Then the bright time is as long as the dark time. The second day in summer is summer solstice. Then the bright time is longer than any other day, in the Northen Finland sun does not set at all. The third day in autumn is autumnal equinox and then the bright time is again as long as the dark time. And the fourth day in winter is winter solstice. Then the dark time is longer than any other day, in the Northen Finland sun does not rise at all.
Temperature depends on sun. If sun does not rise at all, then it´s colder and if it does not set at all, then it´s warmer. Well, this is just a simple explanation, but it was a reasonable explanation for people, who did not know anything about the distance between sun and the Earth, atmosphere etc. Many plants in Finland die in autumn, many plants overwinter under the snow.
In spring plants wake alive. At first leaves are very small and have very beutiful light green color. Finnish people call these tiny leaves as "hiirenkorva" which means an ear of mouse. In the beginning of summer plants are light green but the color changes darker. When summer is gone, some plants change their color. Some plants are yellow, some are red and some are orange. Some plants have all those three colors. In the end of autumn trees drop their leaves. In winter the landscape can be very beautiful if there is snow. Then the color of nature is white, silver and light blue. But if there is not snow, then the landscape is gray and very ugly.
In societies where living depended on agriculture, hunting and fishing, the weather was very important. If it was too cold, too hot, too rainy or too dry, you could lose your harvest. Also animals didn´t have enough food and the hunters didn´t get enough booty. Unfortunately people suffered hunger.
Our ancestors believed that gods decide what kind of weather we have. So it was important to keep gods satisfied and absolutely you must not make gods angry. In spring and in the beginning of summer there is several holidays for gods. But life was not that simple.... we also have imps, spirits and other creatures who can ruin your harvest, kill your cows and so on. So you must keep them satisfied too. If you have made a god or an imp angry, you have to apologize and compensate it somehow. You can sacrifice to gods or bribe the imps. Sometimes if you are clever and cunning, you can cheat the imps. But if they notice you are cheating they´ll get more angry and then you have a big trouble.
So summer was the season when it was able to grow food. Autumn was the season for harvest. In winter it was impossible to grow anything and that is why it was important to preserve berries, vegetables, mushrooms and whatever you had. It was typical to butcher at least part of your cattle because usually there was not enough food for animals and the winter was too long. In autumn people had a lot of work as preparing themselves for winter. And when everything was done it was time to celebrate Kekri. I´ll tell more about Kekri when I´ll begin to prepare myself for it.
Nowadays we don´t need to grow our food ourselves. We can go to market and buy it. In winter we can buy Spanish tomatoes or Finnish tomatoes which grow in greenhouses. Nevertheless every summer I want to preserve berries and vegetables myself. I have done it over 30 years, since I moved away from my parents home. It is a tradition I want to keep alive.
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