Maaliskuu

The month of Maaliskuu (March) has arrived. You may have heard the old saying “in like a lion, out like a lamb” to describe the month of March. According to the Farmers' Almanac, this weather folklore stems from ancestral beliefs in balance, meaning if the weather at the start of March was bad (roaring, like a roaring lion), the month should end with good weather (gentle, like a lamb).

There is, however, a different interpretation. The constellation Leo, the lion, rises in the east at the beginning of March and thus the month “comes in like a lion,” while Aries, the ram, sets in the west at the end of the month, and hence, the month “will go out like a lamb.”

March, to me, is a month of transitions. The daylight is longer, the sun shines more often, snowbanks begin to shrink, and the first hints of spring are felt. I start to get re-energized for the cabin season ahead and begin making my to-do lists and pre-season plans. Gardening catalogs fill my desk and there is anticipation of bright greens returning and the first bulbs poking through the ground.

But transitions require balance. By the middle of the month, also known as the “ides of March," we witness the first full moon, which in history has often been an ill-fated time of upheaval, including the assassination of Julius Caesar. Interestingly, March 15 also was the day Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the Soviet Union’s first president.

Other facts:

💨 March is named for the Roman god of war, Mars.

💨 In the early Roman calendar, March (or Martius) was the first month of the calendar year.

💨 March brings the vernal equinox (first day of spring) and the return of Daylight Saving Time.

💨 March 29-31 are known as the Borrowing Days, which according to lore, have a reputation for being stormy.

Out of all the months, March is probably the one of most change and the need for acknowledgment and acceptance. Life is renewed after the winter and marches on.

The brown buds thicken on the trees,
Unbound, the free streams sing,
As March leads forth across the leas
The wild and windy spring.
–Elizabeth Akers Allen (1832–1911)