The desire to make things clean and tidy in the springtime seems to be almost a biological urge, and like most biological urges, it should be resisted. Spring may be the season of renewal and new beginnings, but there’s no point in going crazy about it. The energy and optimism we feel at this time of year shouldn’t be wasted on cleaning. Back in the days when people knew how to enjoy themselves spring was a season of joy and happiness, music and dancing, not domestic labor. The Romans had a great festival in honor of Flora the goddess of springtime and, in primitive countries like England, the annual spring ritual would be the maypole dance, in which young virgins, youths and maidens, would dance around on the village green, holding long ribbons attached to the top of a pole. As they circled the ribbons would wind around and get shorter and shorter until the dancers were all very close together. Obviously, this sort of thing couldn't be allowed in these puritanical days, even if we
The desire to make things clean and tidy in the springtime seems to be almost a biological urge, and like most biological urges, it should be resisted. Spring may be the season of renewal and new beginnings, but there’s no point in going crazy about it. The energy and optimism we feel at this time of year shouldn’t be wasted on cleaning. Back in the days when people knew how to enjoy themselves spring was a season of joy and happiness, music and dancing, not domestic labor. The Romans had a