Happy First Day of Spring?

One of my Kyrgyz co-workers gave me some wonderful chocolates as a gift today. "What's this for?" I wondered as I noticed the confections sitting on my desk.

"Happy First Day of Spring!" the note said.

When I saw my co-worker, I thanked her for her generosity, but asked her, "It's the First Day of Spring, really?"

She assured me that, yes, even though the Spring Equinox is March 20, that Kyrgyz people consider the first of March to be the beginning of Spring. Being a person who never refuses a gift of chocolate, no matter how questionable the reason, I happily took possession of my treats. But a look outside my office window made me wonder a bit about the Kyrgyz and their sense of timing.

What I saw was a meter of snow still on the ground. In fact, we've had snow on the ground in Naryn perpetually since Halloween, I think.

And the temperature. It was -15 (5 degrees F.) when I got up this morning. We've only had one or two days where the temperature has gotten above freezing all year. By my calculation, and the chill in my bones, it was certainly not the First Day of Spring, but rather the 120th consecutive day of winter that I was experiencing on this day. Just from my observation of the weather and all meteorological data at my disposal, and plotting the current trend lines, I have come to the conclusion that the First Day of Spring will actually arrive in Naryn on June 1st. I think this March 1st hoax is just a convenient excuse for eating chocolate, not that it's a bad thing really.

As I sit and heat up a pot of tea this evening and look out into the frozen darkness, I realize that the Kyrgyz are an optimistic people. One must be optimistic to survive winter in the Kyrgyz mountains. And to believe that March 1st is the First Day of Spring.

Naryn, today, on the "First Day of Spring"