Winter seclusion (fuyugomori)

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Winter seclusion (fuyogomori)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: All Winter
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

fuyugomori 冬篭り winter confinement, winter isolation, wintering
fuyukomori, fuyu komori
hibernation; staying indoors during winter

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/raruru/cg-gallery/kita/data03a/yukifuru.html#kita

In rural Japan, especially in the Northern areas along the coast of the Sea of Japan, the winter is long and brings enormous amounts of snow. There was nothing much to do that sit back and wait it out. The farmhouses where difficult to heat and the family huddled around the hearth (irori) in the kitchen. It was a tough time to live through with great endurance.

Animals like bears sleep through the whole cold season, also called fuyugomori.

Gabi Greve

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Worldwide use

North America
Snowbound
Adjective, kept in by snow: prevented from moving or leaving a place by heavy snow.
Which can lead to feelings of depression called... cabin fever, winter blues, winter blahs, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) .
Michael Baribeau

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Things found on the way


sashikomoru さしこもる【鎖し籠もる】
To keep the doors and windows shut and stay indoors.
tojikomoru 閉じこもる 閉じ籠もる】
rookyo suru 籠居(ろうきょ)する

It could be done in any season, but in winter the home was kept closed to keep out the cold.

- fuyugomori 冬篭り winter confinement, winter isolation, wintering -
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


さし籠る葎の友か冬菜売り
さしこもる葎の友かふゆなうり
sashikomoru mugura no tomo kabuna uri

Staying indoors, the only friend
At the house of the bedstraw is
The vendor of winter greens!
Tr. Oseko Toshiharu

Discussion of various translations
. . mugura 葎 (むぐら) cleavers 　 　　



staying indoors
the only friend of bedstraw
a vendor of greens
trans. Reichhold

Reichhold's comment:
1688--winter. Bedstraw, also called goosegrass ('Galium spium'), was used to stuff mattresses for the poor. In winter, Basho has two reliable friends to keep him well, and both were green plants.

* * * *

Is Reichhold suggesting that Basho's futon is stuffed with bedstraw?
And that Basho is using "bedstraw" as a figure of speech to mean himself?

Ah, if only Basho had used 'fuyugomori' (winter seclusion) instead of 'sashikomoru' (staying indoors), it would make the translation somewhat easier, in my opinion. "Staying indoors" begs the question of who is staying indoors. Barnhill cleverly works around this by saying it's the creepers that are "secluded away." I think we are to take it to mean that Basho is identifying himself with the creepers.

And I would use "peddler" rather than "vendor," since vendors can have stalls, and don't necessarily sell their wares going door-to-door.
. . Discussion by Larry Bole

. . .

From the haiku of Basho we can see him at age 45, buy some greens and prepare his meager meal all by himself. The peddler was the only person he had seen and talked to in quite a while. His home, overgrown with mugura cleaver weeds, had just this one friend who came by once in a while.
元禄元年　四十五歳（雪まろげ）yuki maroge

. . .


Basho used "sashikomoru" again in a three-link sequence he wrote with Kyoriku and Ranran in 1692:

kangiku no tonari mo ari ya ike daikon
(Kyoriku)

Right there! Near
the winter chrysanthemums--
a buried radish.


fuyu sashikomoru hokusoo no susu
(Basho)

Kept in during the winter--
soot on my northern window.


tsuki mo naki yoi kara uma o tsurete kite
(Ranran)

There's no moon--
last night, I came here
driving a horse.

trans. Pei Pei Qiu
Basho and the Dao, University of Hawai'i Press, 2005


- fuyugomori 冬篭り winter confinement
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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. to open the north window, kita-mado hiraku 北窓開く
kigo for mid-spring

Especially in Northern Japan, where winter is long and brings much snow, the northern windows are coverd with strong wooden planks during winter time.


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The people during the Edo period, especially the poor, did not use bed covers as we have them nowadays. They only had a stuffed matress shikubuton 敷き布団 or some kind of woven mats to lie down on. Sometimes the bare planks of wooden floor would have to do, maybe covered with some straw.
And they wore warm night clothes (yogi) to keep the cold out.
Poor people, especially in the colder northern regions, slept near the fire and used anything to keep them warm, even dried seaweed was put into quilts (documented from Akita in 1789, for example). Hemp and straw and hulls were also used for quilts.
Poor people even slept in straw bags, one couple in one bag.
A poor family used to sleep close toghether to use the body heat for warmth.

Since kana mugura カナムグラ（鉄葎） Humulus japonicus is of the hemp family, it might well have been used for stuffing a quilt of the poor.


. Bedtime quilt (yogi) as KIGO 　


The shikibuton in the towns ranged from lavish ones to poor ones, called like a thin rice cracker
senbei futon 煎餅布団 "rice cracker matress" and had only little cotton stuffing.
In Edo, futon usually ment the matress, whereas in Osaka (Kamigata)they began to use kakebuton quilted blanket covers a lot earlier.


Nowadays, the stuffed mattress (shikibuton) and the blanket (kakebuton) are together called a "futon".



Reference : History of Futon


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HAIKU


（ しばし隠れゐける人に申し遣はす ）松尾芭蕉
source :　a-yarn.tea-nifty.com

まづ祝へ梅を心の冬籠り
mazu iwae ume o kokoro no fuyu-gomori

Anyway celebrate I will
This winter hibernation
With apricot blossoms in my heart.
Tr. Takafumi Saito

Written in 貞亨4年, Basho age 44
Nozarashi.
Matsuo Basho for his disciple Tsuboi Tokoku 坪井杜国, Nagoya.
Tokoku had been put in exile for a crime he did not even commit. So if he would stay in hiding maybe next spring things will turn out better.


. - Tsuboi Tokoku 坪井杜国 - .

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屏風には山を画書いて冬籠り
. byoobu ni wa yama o egaite fuyu-gomori .
(winter) winter seclusion. folding screen. a painted mountain


冬籠りまた寄りそはんこの柱
fuyu-gomori / mata yorisowan / kono hashira


金屏の松の古さよ冬籠り
. kinbyoo no matsu no furusa yo fuyugomori .
(winter) winter seclusion. golden folding screen. old pine



折々に伊吹を見ては冬籠り
ori ori ni / Ibuki o mite wa / fuyu-gomori
Mount Ibukiyama


. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .



冬枯れや 世は一色に 風の音
fuyugare ya yo wa isshoku ni kaze no oto

Winter solitude —
In a world of one color
the sound of wind.
Basho, Tr. Robert Hass

With comment y Robert Hass:
source : www.ashokkarra.com

The Japanese is not "winter solitude" but "withering in winter" of plants.
. fuyugare　冬枯れ Winter withering .

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Some Winter Seclusion Haiku by Issa

asana-asana yaki daiko kana fuyugomori

morning after morning
damn roasted radishes!
winter seclusion



fuyugomori tori ryoori ni mo nebutsu kana

winter seclusion--
cooking a chicken
praising Buddha


oya mo ko mirareshi yama ya fuyugomori

my father saw
this same damn mountain...
winter seclusion


haya-baya to taga fuyugomoru hoso keburi

early winter seclusion--
whose thin smoke
over there?


naka-naka ni ume mo hodashi ya fuyugomori

the plum tree too
is soon snowed in...
winter seclusion




haiga by - Nakamura Sakuo -

my sinful dog
at my side...
winter seclusion

Issa

There are 30 haiku by Issa on this subject.
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/ Tr. David Lanoue


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o-mukai no kane no naru nari fuyugomori
御迎ひの鐘の鳴也冬篭

the welcome bell
tolls at the temple...
winter seclusion
(First version)

the death bell
tolls at the temple...
winter seclusion
(Second version)

Shinji Ogawa notes that the phrase o-mukae no kane (Issa's variant: mukai no kane) means "welcome-bell" in the sense of welcoming the faithful to the next world, Amida Buddha's Pure Land. I first translated it, "the welcome bell," but Gabi Greve feels that this loses the sense of "someone waiting for his death." She suggests: "funeral bells/ starting to toll" or "coming to get me/ the bell is tolling." I have decided to go with "death bell," and to include the word "temple" (not in Issa's original text but certainly implied).
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/searchissa.php?haiku_id=698.01a




the plum tree too
is soon snowed in . . .
winter seclusion


Fritz Capelari (1884-1950)


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. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .


nashi kaki wa karasu-makase yo fuyu-gomori

crows, you take
the pears and persimmons --
winter confinement time
Tr. Chris Drake

This humorous poem was written early in the 10th month (November) in 1813, when Issa was back in his hometown after getting his inheritance earlier in the year. Now the first snow has fallen, winter has come, and people in the village are saying goodbye to fall and its delicious fruit. The remaining fruit isn't very plentiful or delicious, but it's fresher than the dried or pickled fruit and vegetables the villagers will be eating from now on as they go indoors to survive the long, hard season of snow -- so go ahead, crows, take everything that's left. It's going to be a tough season for both humans and crows.

In waka and renga, "staying inside/going into seclusion in winter" was an elegant way of referring to plants in winter and occasionally to hibernation. In haikai, however, it also refers to humans, especially those who live in snowy or very cold areas. In the area in which Issa's hometown was located, it had a fairly specific meaning. People used bamboo, straw, and other materials to make roofed and walled entryways extending out from their doors to make sure they could get into and out of their houses during snowstorms. They also put bamboo or straw blinds over many windows in their houses, sheds, and barns that let in air but shut out most snow. Over bushes and plants they placed little straw tepees, and straw mats were wrapped around the trunks of trees.

People also put in place special large panels that extended out from the sides of the house that were open to the outside when sliding doors were opened: the panels extended out at an angle from the eaves and allowed snow on the roof to slide down to the ground several feet beyond the porches under the eaves, thus creating space and increasing ventilation for the people inside. Fresh air was always a consideration, since heat came from wood stoves and charcoal and created a lot of smoke and fumes, which exited through a hole in the roof. Human-produced methane was another important factor (see the translation for 1/18/2013). Sometimes it was also necessary to ventilate pent-up human frustrations during the long, boring indoor winter months lived in cramped spaces, as in this 1823 hokku:

hito soshiru kai ga tatsunari fuyu-gomori

another party held
to badmouth other people --
winter confinement

Since not much was going on, criticizing other people was a popular way of feeling good. "Winter confinement" or staying inside was often a rather dark, boring, and hemmed-in existence, so Issa seems to half-envy the crows in the first hokku.

Issa's own notion of staying inside during winter was a very flexible and dynamic one that took some of its inspiration from the crows. On 10/12, a few days after he wrote the first haiku above, he was in the town of Naganuma to take part in a requiem service for the soul of Basho at the Basho Hermitage there, and on 10/19 he went to a hot springs spa in Yudanaka for three weeks to write and discuss haikai with the owner and his son. Issa's diary also shows that he often traveled through winter snow to other villages and towns to visit his students. Hitting the snowy road and staying at the houses of many different haikai poets was an effective way of avoiding the winter confinement blues.

Chris Drake


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薪をわるいもうと一人冬籠
maki o waru imooto hitori fuyugomori

splitting wood
my sister alone -
wintering

Masaoka Shiki
http://www.cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp/~shiki/kim/shikiwinter.html


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winter seclusion
yet another trade bead
slides into place

an'ya
http://haigaonline.com/


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> > winter isolation --
> > only the death visits
> > remote villages

The actual situation in Afganistan where 1000 children died because of the coldness!!! February 2005

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winter enclosure --
songs till the morning
in a refuge hut

***

winter separation --
snowmobile visits
the sick people

(that is in Gorski Kotar in Croatia)

Tomislav Maretic
http://www.worldhaiku.net/poetry/si/t.maretic/t.maretic.htm



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Related words

Things to keep you warm in winter, a KIGO list


***** snowbound, snowed in, cabin fever,
winter blues, winter blahs, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
kigo for winter


HAIKU

snowbound-
from the doorway
smelling the cold

Michael Baribeau


WKD : Medical Kigo

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Wind chimes (fuurin)

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Wind Chimes (fuurin, Japan)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: All Summer
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation


fuurin 風鈴 (ふうりん) wind chime

fuurin uri 風鈴売（ふうりんうり） vendor of wind chimes


. . . CLICK here for Photos !


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tsuri shinobu 釣忍 (つりしのぶ)
wind chimes hanging from a plant arrangement
..... 夏 釣荵（つりしのぶ）、吊荵（つりしのぶ）
noki shinobu 軒しのぶ（のきしのぶ）
wind chimes hanging from the eaves



. . . . . but

plant kigo for all autumn
some saijiki place "shinobu 忍" in "all summer"

shinobugusa 忍草 (しのぶぐさ)
weeping fern, hare's foot fern
grass of longing remembrance, fern of longing
...... itsumadegusa, itsumade kusa 何時迄草（いつまでぐさ）
..... nokishinobu 軒しのぶ（のきしのぶ）
Lepisorus thunbergianus. Pakahakaha in Hawaii



御廟年経て忍は何をしのぶ草
gobyoo toshi hete shinobu wa nani o shinobu-gusa

The imperial tomb has stood
for ages; what do you recall,
fern of longing?
Tr. Barnhill

Matsuo Basho in Yoshino, at the Temple Nyoirin-ji
Nozarashi Kiko

time passes by the mausoleum
and what is there to remember -
weeping fern
Tr. Gabi Greve

. Matsuo Basho in Yoshino .


source :　itoyo/basho

The mausoleum for Godaigo Tenno 後醍醐帝御廟

Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 Go-Daigo-tennō)
(November 26, 1288 – September 19, 1339)
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


. . . CLICK here for Photos !


. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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plant kigo for all winter

kareshinobu, kare shinobu 枯忍 (かれしのぶ)
withered weeping fern
kan shinobu 寒忍 (かんしのぶ) weeping fern in the cold
fuyu shinobu 冬忍（ふゆしのぶ）weeping fern in winter
tachi shinobu 立忍（たちしのぶ） "standing weeping fern"
Onychium japonicum
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


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Please read Part 1 of the kigo story here:

. Wind Chimes ... Introduction .



http://www.sam.hi-ho.ne.jp/maruyosi/daruma.htm

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Worldwide use
windchimes
There is an ongoing discussion as to the wind chimes and their seasonal reference.

Soji from USA:

My own experience, in my part of the country, says that "windchime" could be a spring or summer kigo. In the spring we start opening the windows for the fresh, unconditioned breeze to freshen stale winter rooms.

And, though the windows may get opened when the heat of summer is upon us, when the heat and humidity simultaneously hit 90ー and 90%, respectively, the windows will go down, the air conditioning come on, and the melodious sounds of the windchimes are locked out, only marginally appreciated by some intrepid, but foolhardy, traveler, or the postal delivery person.

ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo


Kala Ramesh from India:

'windchimes' should be considered a spring chime....
In India the breeze gets beautiful again .... in North India the Winter months can be freezing - then with spring the windows are opened ....
the nights all over India in spring gets cool and fresh - with the smell of mango blossoms and the fragrance of flowers like the jasmine and paarijat.

yes - windchimes - is a spring kigo as far as India is concerned.
India in summer can be unbearable - who wants that hot breeze - even if they chime our bells?!!

ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo


Linda Papanicolaou from USA:

Spring is when there's a breeze to stir the windchime.
Summer weather is often hot and still, and my windchime rings seldom.

ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo


Bill Higginson, USA:

The rationale behind season words is tradition, not personal or local experience.
It makes sense to add certain items to a season word list according to local custom, such as holidays, unique cultural features, and particular weather phenomena or creature-behaviors unique to a specific region, provided they are included at times when poets have in fact noticed them and writen about them. But this is not always the case for phenomena of more or less universal experience.

Wind chimes (note: two words) have been around a lot longer than air conditioners, and will probably outlast the latter by several millennia.

In the haiku tradition, which is a fairly well-established tradition of some 5-700 years, wind chimes have long been associated with summer. And while I do not need to deny modern experience such as those confined to city or uncommonly hot climates being aware of outdoor surroundings mainly in spring and autumn, the fact is that wind chimes are associated not with the high winds of spring, but with the pleasant breezes of summer, bringing a bit of cooling relief.
Thus, their deeply summerish meaning is underscored. The very essence of wind chimes is the coolness we feel in that breeze.

A haiku on the subject of wind chimes must almost of necessity bring out a sense of coolness, whether a breeze is mentioned or not (and the word "cool" need not, indeed, should not be mentioned, but suggested).

There are phenomena that span more than one season, in which case, like frogs and moon, there are special times of the year when our consciousness of them peaks, so they represent those seasons (spring and autumn, respectively).

Or, like "butterfly", the simple word by itself is assigned to one season (spring), and there are other, amplified phrases that designate the same or similar phenomenon in other seasons, viz. "summer butterfly", "autumn butterfly", "freezing butterfly" (winter).

Thus, any phenomenon can be fit into any season, if the writer has the need to make it so. But not so with any season word!
(There are also words that designate more than one phenomenon, and are not well handled in some Japanese saijiki and dictionaries only confuse the matter, such as _kagerou_, which can mean "heat waves" or "shimmering heat" [spring] and "gossamer" or "floating strands of spider web" [autumn]. This is a very complex instance, and there are a few others similarly so.)

And the even larger question:

The overriding factor here is that, unless one is in a very distinctly different climatic zone than mid-temperate central Japan, on which the Japanese saijiki is nominally based, and the phenomenon in question is already recorded in a common Japanese saijiki, then *millions of poets* already relate to it that way.

Why would anyone in a country with a handful of haiku poets think they should go off in some other direction? (Exceptions: tropics, such as Taiwan, Hawaii, Central America; South Asia; etc., where distinctly different seasons from those in the temperate zone prevail.)

Ultimately, the majority of poets from a relatively consistent climatic zone worldwide should prevail. And there are more Japanese already there, in terms of the mid-temperate zone, with literally millions upon millions of haiku already in place based on a fairly consistent and useful understanding of the seasons (which many of them falsely maintain is "so unique to Japan"), why would anyone want to "push the river"?

Go with the flow of what is already in place, as far as saijiki placement is concerned, and you can't go seriously wrong.

As to writing our haiku, we do well to write from experience. But getting our backs up over season word conventions and placement in a saijiki is not a good exercise in creativity!




© Haiku and Haiga by Eric Houck Jr.


Bill Higginson about this Haiga:

The season word of this poem is "first warm day", which is a specific turn on the spring topic "warm", and the wind chime is not a seasonal element in the poem. If anything, this poem confirms the summer seasonality of "wind chime", by the very mention of that first warm day.
A good haiku, and not in the least controversial, as far as seasonal understanding is concerned.

Please note:
The inclusion of what would otherwise be a season word for season X in a poem clearly of season Y means that the seasonal quality of the x-word is trumped, as far as the y-poem is concerned. Or, as in this case, the seasonality of the y-poem is actually enhanced by the presence of the season-X word, which helps establish the "cuspishness" of the phenomenon as observed.


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Things found on the way

Daruma san and the wind chimes
. . . DARUMA and Wind Chimes


PHOTO ALBUM : Wind Chimes


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HAIKU

A poem from an old friend
the sound of wind chime,
where will the wind carry this song?

Kio
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/searchingfortheox/message/721

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


my little wind chimes -
your sound is heared
all over the world

Gabi Greve,
with respect to the above discussion, March 2006

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Related words


. Wind Chimes ... Introduction .


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Winter solstice (tooji)

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For Summer Solstice, see below.
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Winter solstice (tooji, Japan)

***** Location: Japan, worldwide
***** Season: Mid-Winter
***** Category: Season

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Explanation

Winter solstice, tooji 冬至

ichiyoo raifuku 一陽来復（いちようらいふく）"sun comes back"
The 21st of December.

sakutan tooji 朔旦冬至 (さくたんとうじ )
"morning of the first and solstice"
when the solstice falls on November 1 of the lunar calendar. Once in 19 years, this is an auspicious day and has been celebrated at court.


On this special day, we eat pumpkin soup and take a bath with yuzu fruit (see below). This a Japanese custom to keep your good health in the winter season.
This day is also called "The sun is coming back" (ichiyoo raifuku　一陽来復）. Yin and Yang are changing. Bad things are coming to an end and new, better ones are to be expected.

Etsuko Yanagibori


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ichiyoo raifuku 一陽来福
a pun with "luck coming back"

This is also the name of restaurants and noodle soup.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

. . . CLICK here for Photos
of "sun coming back" !

At the temple Hojo-ji (hoojooji 放生寺) in Tokyo, there is a large stone memorial with these words in the compounds.


A ricewine from Niigata with this name
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

At the shrine Ana Hachimangu in Tokyo people come at the day of the winter solstice to buy this amulet. It is good for business and to make money, when they put it into the auspicious driection of the new year (ehoo　恵方).　They also hang it outside on the last day of the year and for the Setsubun rituals in February. The letters of the amulet have to face the auspicious direction.
Just as shadow receedes to new light, bad fortune will not receede and good luck is bound to come.

穴八幡宮

. Amulets and Talismans from Japan .　


. Auspicious direction of this year (ehoo　恵方) .

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by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
The sun goddess Amaterasu emerges from her cave.

. Amaterasu Oomikami (Omikami) 天照大神 .
The Sun Deity of Japan

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Some Astronomical Facts
As the Earth travels around the Sun in its orbit, the north-south position of the Sun changes over the course of the year due to the changing orientation of the Earth's tilted rotation axes with respect to the Sun. A QuickTime movie illustrates the tilt of the Earth's equatorial plane relative to the Sun which is responsible for the seasons. The dates of maximum tilt of the Earth's equator correspond to the summer solstice and winter solstice, and the dates of zero tilt to the vernal equinox and autumnal equinox.

In the northern hemisphere, the Winter solstice is day of the year (near December 22) when the Sun is farthest south. However, in the southern hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged so that the winter solstice is the day on which the Sun is farthest north. The winter solstice marks the first day of the season of winter. The declination of the Sun on the (northern) winter solstice is known as the tropic of capricorn (-23° 27').

The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, respectively, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a minimum for the year. Of course, daylight saving time means that the first Sunday in April has 23 hours and the last Sunday in October has 25 hours, but these human meddlings with the calendar and do not correspond to the actual number of daylight hours. In Chicago, there are 9:20 hours of daylight on the winter solstice of December 22, 1999.
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/WinterSolstice.html




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quote
Virtually all cultures have their own way of acknowledging this moment. The Welsh word for solstice translates as “the point of roughness,” while the Talmud calls it “Tekufat Tevet,” first day of “the stripping time.” For the Chinese, winter’s beginning is “dongzhi,” when one tradition is making balls of glutinous rice, which symbolize family gathering. In Korea, these balls are mingled with a sweet red bean called pat jook. According to local lore, each winter solstice a ghost comes to haunt villagers. The red bean in the rice balls repels him.

In parts of Scandinavia, the locals smear their front doors with butter so that Beiwe, sun goddess of fertility, can lap it up before she continues on her journey. (One wonders who does all the mopping up afterward.) Later, young women don candle-embedded helmets, while families go to bed having placed their shoes all in a row, to ensure peace over the coming year.

Street processions are another common feature. In Japan, young men known as “sun devils,” their faces daubed to represent their imagined solar ancestry, still go among the farms to ensure the earth’s fertility (and their own stocking-up with alcohol). In Ireland, people called wren-boys take to the roads, wearing masks or straw suits. The practice used to involve the killing of a wren, and singing songs while carrying the corpse from house to house.

Sacrifice is a common thread. In areas of northern Pakistan, men have cold water poured over their heads in purification, and are forbidden to sit on any chair till the evening, when their heads will be sprinkled with goats’ blood. (Unhappy goats.) Purification is also the main object for the Zuni and Hopi tribes of North America, their attempt to recall the sun from its long winter slumber. It also marks the beginning of another turning of their “wheel of the year,” and kivas (sacred underground ritual chambers) are opened to mark the season.
source : www.nytimes.com/2010
Richard Cohen, author of
“Chasing the Sun:
The Epic Story of the Star That Gives Us Life.”


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Worldwide use

Ireland

The Winter Solstice, or Yule,
is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. It is associated with the birth of the Sun King. It falls on the first day of winter, which is either 21 or 22 December, and is celebrated as the day that the Sun is reborn (later adapted by Christianity as the "son" is born) to warm the Earth again. Yule comes from the word Jule, which in Old Norse means, "wheel."

Celtic people celebrate Yule as the battle between the aging Holly King, who represents the darkness of the old year, and the young Oak King, who symbolizes the light of the new year. Sometimes the battle is re-enacted during the burning of the Yule log — which is done to encourage the Sun's easy birth, welcome it back to Earth.

This was a time of joy and hope — a holiday meant to uplift spirits weary from winter and a time to appreciate the wonders that will come with the spring.

Along with the evergreen, the holly and the ivy and the mistletoe were important plants of the season, all symbolizing fertility and everlasting life. According to the Bardic Tradition, the Winter Solstice was called 'Alban Arthan' by the Druids. It was then that the Chief Druid cut the sacred mistletoe from the Oak. The Celtic Druids would cut the mistletoe with a golden sickle on the sixth night of the moon. Later Christian churches would ban mistletoe from Christmas celebrations because of its fertility rite connotations.

In addition to fertility rituals, divinations were cast for the coming Spring both through ritual means and through good-natured taunting and wagering.
©　www.irelandsown.net

.....

Silver-white frostwork
sleeping in winter-clad towns:
Yule hibernation

Nuala Ní Chonchúir
(from ¡Divas! New Irish Women's Writing publ. by Arlen House)



WKD : Winter Solstice in Ireland


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"Eucalyptus Yule"
Winter solstice June 2010 in Australia


Winter Solstice Celebrations around the World
www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstice.htm


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. Sanziana, Yellow Bedstraw (Galium verum) .
Midsummer Rituals in Romania


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

さぼてんを上座に直ス冬至哉
saboten o kamiza ni naosu tooji kana

I move my cactus
to the upper shelf –
it’s Winter Solstice.

Kobayashi Issa 一茶　文化二
(Tr. Robin Gill)


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風雲の少しく遊ぶ冬至かな
fuu-un no sukoshiku asobu tooji kana

wind and clouds
playing just a little -
winter soltice
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

Ishida Hakyo (1913-1969)　石田波郷　
http://jindaiji.co.jp/sobazen/199712.html
http://www.lib.ehime-u.ac.jp/KUHI/ENG/hakyoeng.html

Fuu-un can also mean: winds and clouds/elements/situation/state of affairs

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winter solstice
headlights
in both directions

willard

From the Shiki Archives. The Photo above is also from this link.
Read more haiku on this topic here:
http://shiki1.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/~shiki/kukai/kukai51-1.html

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winter solstice
a titmouse moves deeper
into the bush

B. Ross


winter solstice-
where are my
sheepskin slippers?

Kate Steere
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cherrypoetryclub/message/21086

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Beethoven
and some incense smoke -
the longest night

Beethoven
und Incenserauch -
die laengste Nacht

Gabi Greve
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/977

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winter solstice
a rainbow
around the moon

susan delphine delaney

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winter solstice -
a dark shadow grows
darker

gabi greve, Dezember 2008

I Ching 24. Fu - Return (The Turning Point)
and some musings about American Haiku


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Related words

***** Plum blossoms of the Winter Solstice
(tooji bai　冬至梅）
The Japanese UME is in fact an apricot, but usually translated as plum blossoms.


Fritz Capelari (1884-1950)

apricot blossoms
start to bloom
the winter solstice

etsuko yanagibori

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堀端の風の甘さや冬至梅
horibata no kaze no amasa ya tooji bai

the wind from the riverbank
smells so sweet -
plums at winter solstice
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

source : www.hpmix.com/home/tetsuan/


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The Winter Solstice day and the time around it is a time to care for your health, with food like this and with a hot bath.


***** Pumpkin Soup at the Winter Solstice
(tooji kabocha 冬至南瓜）
tooji konnyaku 冬至蒟蒻（とうじこんにゃく）konyak for winter solstice
tooji mochi 冬至餅（とうじもち） ricecakes for winter solstice


***** Rice Gruel at the Winter Solstice
(tooji-gayu　冬至粥)
akaragashiwa 赤柏（あからがしわ）"red oak"
azuki no kayu 赤豆の粥（あずきのかゆ）gruel with red adzuki beans


***** Yuzu Bath on the Winter Solstice Day
yuzu yu 柚子湯 (ゆずゆ) / yuzuburo 柚子風呂（ゆずぶろ
(tooji yu 冬至湯, tooji-buro冬至風呂)

... ... see Yuzu (citron family)

. . . . .

. kiku no toojime 菊の冬至芽（きくのとうじめ）
chrysanthemum budding at the winter solstice


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***** Long Night (yonaga, nagaki yo 夜長、長き夜）　
kigo for atumn
(The above link also includes explanations for : short night, long day, short day.)

Properly speaking, the longest night is that of the winter solstice (around 21 December by the Gregorian calendar), but "long night(s)" as an autumn topic is based less on the calendar than on poetic sensibility: the contrast with summer's brief nights. At night-work or reading a book in the pleasant climate of autumn, one keenly feels the lengthening nights.


山鳥の枝ふみかゆる夜長かな
yamadori no eda fumikayuru yonaga kana

a copper pheasant's
feet fidget on the branch--
this long night

Buson ... 蕪村

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よそに鳴る夜長の時計数へけり
yoso ni naru yonaga no tokei kazoekeri

distant striking
of a clock in the long night--
I counted each

Sugita Hisajo .... 杉田久女


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long night
moon playing hide and seek
with the sun

Ella Wagenmakers


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***** Summer Solstice, geshi　夏至
kigo for mid-summer

geshi no hi 夏至の日（げしのひ）day of the summer solstice
geshi no ame 夏至の雨（げしのあめ）rain on the summer solstice
geshi no yoru 夏至の夜（げしのよる）night of the summer solstice
geshi yokaze 夏至夜風（げしよかぜ）windy night of the summer solstice

geshi byakuya 夏至白夜（げしびゃくや）
white night of the summer solstice

white night in the polar region (byakuya)




Chinese astronomers determining the summer solstice
The Mathematics of the Chinese Calendar


The Summer Solstice is the beginning of the Astronomical Summer, and is often considered the start of summer in the United States (even though Summer vacations started at the end of the school year--usually in May).
The traditional European Summer, as well as the definition of Summer used for Japanese haiku, has the Summer Solstice as the middle of the Summer season.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Season


Click HERE to see more photos, of Stonehenge and other places


first night of summer...
neither the mockingbird
nor I can sleep

© gK
tinywords.com/haiku.2002


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summer solstice --
an old pine anchors
the moon

Laryalee Frazer, 2005


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summer solstice--
we hang suspended
in the first light

John Daleiden, June 2006

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sweltering . . .
the summer solstice
a month away

Laura Becker Sherman
- WKD facebook 2012 -

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ENYOVDEN / Enyo’s Day (Midsummer Day)
June 24

Name day of everyone named Yanko, Yana, Yanka.

This ancient Bulgarian ritual is considered the turning point in the mythological calendar of the ancient people – a ritual connected to the summer Equinox, when the day is longest and the night is shortest. Enyovden / Enyo’s Day is a favorite summer holiday for young and old. It practically divides the year into two. It is believed that after that feast, winter sets on its long way to the people. The story of Enyo putting on his furcoat and going to search for snow reminds that it is time to think of the long cold months to come.
People get up early that day to see the sun “turning three times” - whoever manages to "bathe" in the dew will be safe from illnesses until Midsummer Day next year. Old people say the legend of Enyo - once upon a time, in a village, there used to live two young people, Enyo and Stana, who were very much in love. Every day they thought of each other,and the bread had no taste at all until they saw each another at least from afar. But the girl’s father had decided else and arranged an engagement for Stana in another village.
MORE
source : www.plovdivguide.com


standing tall
in front of the sun-
Enyovden

- Shared by Tzetzka Ilieva -
Haiku Culture Magazine, 2013


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Solstice December 2012 - Mayan Doomsday

A New Age interpretation of this transition was that the date marked the start of a period during which Earth and its inhabitants would undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 21 December 2012 would mark the beginning of a new era.
Others suggested that the date marked the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. Scenarios suggested for the end of the world included the arrival of the next solar maximum, an interaction between Earth and the black hole at the center of the galaxy,or Earth's collision with a planet called Nibiru.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


snowy morning,
December 21...
reciting Basho

for Mayan Doomsday believers

Chen-ou Liu
Canada

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. jikan　時間 time in Edo - Edo no jikoku 江戸の時刻 .

. SAIJIKI
OBSERVANCES, FESTIVALS, RITUALS


[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO　　TOP . ]
[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]

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Winter (fuyu)

[ . BACK to Worldkigo TOP . ]
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Winter (fuyu)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: All Winter
***** Category: Season, plants, earth ...

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Explanation

The winter season in Japanese Haiku
is fixed according to the Asian lunar calendar from the beginning of winter at November seven until the fouth of February. In reality the winter in Central Japan lasts roughly from December to March.



.. .. .. .. .. .. .. icecold morning -
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. and yet
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. hope on the way

Haiku Winter Wonders by Gabi Greve
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2005/01/winter-wonders.html

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. beginning of winter, rittoo　立冬 　
..... according to the 24 seasons, on November 7.

24 Seasons (nijuu sekki 二十節季) according to the Asian Lunar Calendar



There are many kigo related to WINTER.

. . . . WINTER
the complete SAIJIKI


. WINTER
kigo LIST for category SEASON



. Names of the Japanese winter months and solar sections 　


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fuyu shoogun 冬将軍（ふゆしょうぐん） "general Winter"
„Väterchen Frost“
When the cold front from Siberia begins to reach Japan.

gentoo 厳冬（げんとう）very cold winter


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fuyuzare 冬ざれ (ふゆざれ) withering in winter
..... fuyu sare 冬され（ふゆされ）
fuyu zaruru 冬ざるる（ふゆざるる）
Plants begin to wither and dry out.


冬ざれや小鳥のあさる韮畠
fuyuzare ya kotori no asaru nirabatake

withering in winter . . .
little birds search food
in the leek fields

Yosa Buson 蕪村


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fuyu atataka 冬暖か (ふゆあたたか) winter is warm
fuyu nukushi 冬ぬくし（ふゆぬくし）
toodan 冬暖（とうだん） warm winter
dantoo 暖冬（だんとう）


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kigo for late winter

bantoo 晩冬 (ばんとう) "late winter"
..... kitoo 季冬（きとう）、katoo 下冬（かとう）
..... matsutoo, mattoo 末冬（まつとう）
According to the lunar calendar, this was a word for the twelfth month.
It was never used as often as the kigo for "late summer" or "late autumn".




fuyu fukashi 冬深し (ふゆふかし) winter deepnes
..... fuyu fukamu 冬深む（ふゆふかむ）
..... fuyu sabu 冬さぶ（ふゆさぶ）
mafuyu 真冬（まふゆ） "midwinter"
This is the coldest time of winter, when all are waiting eagerly for spring and yet have to endure the coldest part of winter still.



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earth kigo for all winter

fuyugeshiki 冬景色 (ふゆげしき) landscape in winter
..... fuyukei 冬景（とうけい）
..... fuyu no kei 冬の景（ふゆのけい）
fuyu no iro 冬の色（ふゆのいろ）the color of winter



. SAIJIKI ... category EARTH


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Worldwide use

The Winter in Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
This is the season that we feel something powerful of brancheswhose leaves were already fallen.Leaf buds continue to swell even during the sleeping time of trees. Flower buds begin swelling in the feeble sunshine.The twittering of winter birds resting their wings is conspicuously bustlingand resonant in the garden.The winter in Shinjuku Gyoen is going toward spring step by step.

Link with many flower pictures, names in Japanese and English.
http://www.japan-i.jp/explorejapan/kanto/tokyo/shinjuku/4oa00l000000499s.html


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Winter in India has its own entry.


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Things found on the way

Pages of winter haiku, although the word WINTER is not mentioned specially.
http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/wlhaiku/winterhaiku.html
http://www.zikaden.de/gedruckt/jamben/Winter-Haiku.html




A bitter morning:
sparrows sit together
without any necks

Winter Haiku by J.W.Hackett
http://hacketthaiku.com/haiku2005winter.html



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Keyaki wood from Amagi, Ise peninsula, is especially famous for the beauty of its grain and patterns.

天城のケヤキ


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HAIKU

winter solitude
in a world of one color
the sound of wind

Matsuo Basho

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winter cat
out wants in
in wants out

winter haiku writers
debate their work
the mouse cleans his whiskers


More haiku about winter are here:
http://www.oldgreypoet.com/haiku/winterhaiku.html

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cold winter night -
the way to the outhouse
sooooo far


.. .. .. Look at the cold night here:
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2005/02/outhouse-joy.html

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round and round
in endless circles <>
winter sun

.. .. .. Look at some natural Mandala here:
http://happyhaiku.blogspot.com/2004/08/mandala.html

Gabi Greve

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winter sunrise
in the style of Degas--
misty bands of pastel

Ed Schwellenbach
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cherrypoetryclub/message/21204

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Wintry day
doors of the gipsy vans
all closed

Angelika Wienert, WHCgerman (AW, Dec. 2004)

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lacy winter trees
children walking hand-in-hand
tiny snow printing

crystal blue winter
checkerboard pattern blankets
my apple orchard

Judith A.Lindberg
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/januarypoetry2.html

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winter dawn -
the forest chorus
begins with a squirrel

Cindy Zackowitz

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snowing winter ...
even the concealed green shivers
inside leafless branches

Raju Samal, India


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late winter---
a chicken pecks
at its shadow

Robert Wilson


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long meeting
on a winter's day
... empty bird's nest

Ella Wagemakers, 2010
Kigo Hotline


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"Winter landscape" by Sesshu
Tokyo National Museum

Click on the Photo to read the details.


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Related words

Spring (haru, Japan)
Summer (natsu, Japan)
Autumn (aki, Japan)

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***** Winter fields, fields in winter,
fuyuta　冬田

Withered fields, kareta　枯れ田, on the other hand, is a
kigo for late autumn.

. . . . .

***** Winter trees fuyugi 冬木 ふゆき trees in winter
all winter
fuyuki kage 冬木影（ふゆきかげ）shadow of winter trees
fuyuki michi 、冬木道（ふゆきみち）road with winter trees
fuyuki yado 冬木宿（ふゆきやど）lodge with winter trees
fuyukinaka 冬木中（ふゆきなか）in the winter trees
fuyukibara 冬木原（ふゆきばら） fields and winter trees
fuyukodachi 冬木立 (ふゆこだち)grove of winter trees

kanrin 寒林 (かんりん) forest in the cold
kanboku 寒木（かんぼく） trees in the cold


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***** Winter withering, nature withered in winter,
fuyugare　冬枯れ
all winter
..... withered trees, kareki, koboku 枯木
"naked trees", hadakagi 裸木
bare branches, kare eda 枯枝
road lined with bare trees, kareki michi 枯木道
grove of withered trees, fuyukodachi 冬木立
withering in the cold, karuru 枯るる
lodge and withered trees, kareki yado 枯木宿（かれきやど）
stars and withered trees, kareki boshi 枯木星（かれきぼし）


. shimogare 霜枯 (しもがれ) withering in the frost



source :　ttetsuo_2005

attributed to Matsuo Basho

冬枯れや 世は一色に 風の音
冬枯や世ハ一色能風の於登
fuyugare ya yo wa hito iro ni kaze no oto
fuyugare ya yo wa isshoku ni kaze no oto

Winter solitude —
In a world of one color
the sound of wind.
Tr. Robert Hass

With comment y Robert Hass:
source : www.ashokkarra.com

The Japanese is not "winter solitude" but "withering in winter" of plants.


a desolate winter:
in a one-colored world
wind resounds
Tr. Toshimi Horiuchi


winter faintness -
wind resounds through
a one-color world
Tr. yorukamome



désolation hivernale
dans le monde monochrome
le bruit du vent
Tr. nekojita



all the withered plants -
the sound of wind
in a world of one color
Tr. Gabi Greve

(I use the normal English word order, Japanese has the "sound of wind" in line 3.)



. - Matsuo Basho - The Sound of Wind - .


. WKD : Winter seclusion (fuyugomori 冬篭り) .
winter confinement, winter isolation, wintering - of human beings

- - - - - BTW, Chris Drakes reminds us:
I think this interesting hokku has not been recognized by Basho scholars as authentic, although there are several stones with the hokku carved on it standing here and there. The hokku first appeared in 1787, long after Basho's death, in a collection called Moto no Mizu (もとの水), but modern scholars doubt that about 90% of the hokku in that collection are actually by Basho.
There were many hokku forgeries that claimed to be by the famous Basho floating around in the late Edo period. The fuyugare hokku is interesting, but it is not included in any standard modern editions of Basho's hokku. I think it's best to list this hokku as "attributed to Basho." Actually, I doubt that there's much chance of it actually being by Basho. It would be interesting to know who actually wrote it, since it's a nice hokku.

. - Moto no Mizu もとの水 - 句集 - Hokku Collection - .

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nanoki karu 名の木枯る (なのきかる)
"trees with a name are withering
sakura karu 桜枯る（さくらかる）withering cherry tree
ichoo karu 銀杏枯る（いちょうかる）withering gingko tree
kunugi karu 櫟枯る（くぬぎかる）yew-tree withering
enoki karu 榎枯る（えのきかる）Chinese hackberry withering
budoo karu 葡萄枯る（ぶどうかる）grape plants withering

. keyaki karu 欅枯る（けやきかる）withering zelkova tree .

karekuwa, kare kuwa 枯桑 (かれくわ) withering mulberry tree
..... kuwa karu 桑枯る（くわかる）

kareyanagi, kare yanagi 枯柳 (かれやなぎ) willows withering
..... yanagi karu 柳枯る（やなぎかる）
fuyu yanagi 冬柳（ふゆやなぎ）willow in winter
..... fuyu no yanagi 冬の柳（ふゆのやなぎ）

kare ibara 枯茨 (かれいばら) withered wild roses
..... ibara karu 茨枯る（いばらかる）

karetsuta 枯蔦 (かれつた) withering ivy, wild wine withering
..... tsuta karu 蔦枯る（つたかる）

karezuru 枯蔓 かれづる wines withering
..... tsuri karu 蔓枯るる（つるかるる）
..... karekazura 枯かずら（かれかずら）

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***** Cold Spell, Cold wave (kanpa, kampa 寒波)
kigo for all winter


***** Cold (samusa, samushi, kan 寒さ、寒し、寒)
kigo for all winter

cold cold cold
ZEN ZEN ZEN
cold cold cold

remember, zenzen in Japanese can mean : not at all

Read my story about a COLD Zen-Temple, Eihei-Ji.
Gabi Greve
http://darumapilgrim.blogspot.com/2005/02/eihei-ji-temple.html



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Warm Things to keep you warm in Winter in Japan
A KIGO list.
.....Including furniture, clothing and food.



***** Cold weather in autumn, winter and spring
. . KIGO LIST

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***** "Out-of-season blooming"
(kaeri-zaku, kaerizaku 帰り咲)

　帰り咲分別もない垣ね哉
kaeri-zaku funbetsu mo nai kakine kana

lacking discretion
out-of-season flowers
on the fence

Issa, Tr. David Lanoue


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Check the WKD LIST of
. HUMANITY and Winter Kigo
work done in winter

. . . . WINTER
the complete SAIJIKI



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Windstorm

nnnnnnnnnnnn TOP nnnnnnnnnnnnn

Windstorm

***** Location: Hawaii
***** Season: Winter
***** Category: Heavens

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Explanation

Rain and windstorms are more frequent during Hawaii's winter months, but they generally clear up within 24 hours.

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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

mamas
puttin the hammer down
watch yr nails

top o the mountain
flying things....
plastic in the trees

wind gusts...
the poet tree
dances

holding on...
center
of the storm

Shanna Moore, March 2006

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Related words

***** Wind in various kigo


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Walpurgis Night

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Walpurgis Night (Walpurgisnacht, Germany)

***** Location: Germany, Brocken Mountain
***** Season: Late Spring, May 1
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

Brocken Mountain

May 1 marks the final victory of Spring over Winter, but before departing, the witches and their cohorts have one last fling. The night from April 30 to May 1 is called "Walpurgisnacht", the night of Walpurgis or Walpurga. The festival is marked by numerous rituals to ward off evil. Legend has it that on Walpurgisnacht the witches would gather on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains. Because of the Walpurgisnacht scene in Goethe's Faust, in which Mephistopheles takes Faust to the Brocken and has him revel with the witches, the witches gathering became widely known.

The festival is marked by numerous rituals to ward off evil. On the eve of May 1st the bells toll in Luxembourg and many prayers are said, there are blessings with holy-water and blessed-palms in the homes and barns. In Schmalkalden in Thueringen the little girls, dressed as Hexen themselves, chase out the Walpermännchen. They wear paper hats and sometimes carry sticks in their hands. Similarly, in the south Harz region, the young boys ride stick-horses and chase the Hexen out of the fields. The most widespread remedy against evil spirits during Walpurgisnacht is noise. The boys begin making noise as soon as the sun sets.

In Bohemia boards are beaten onto the ground in front of the houses, accompanied by this chant: "Hex geh raus, 's brennt dei Haus." Whoever hears a pistol shot on that evening is supposed to say, "Schiess mei Hex a mit!" In Lippe the noise is referred to as "Maiklappen." A lot of noise is especially made in front of the houses of married couples who are childless, because it is believed that it is necessary to "further the blessings."

In the Berner Jura the shephard boys, on the eve of May 1, stand atop the manure-piles and crack whips in order to drive away wolves. The wolf is the incarnation of evil, and symbolizes the departure of winter. The manure-pile symbolizes fertility of the fields and gardens, and therefore is often the locale where prayers are said. Farmers who don't have as many cattle help each other out in the summer. They make a pledge-group, which takes this form in Donaueschingen: they go to a nearby chapel and pray, then they climb together onto a manure-pile, hold hands, and say "Mir (=wir) gmaren miteinand," which means "we are helping each other to bring home hay and grain with our cattle." [i.e. they are sharing each other's manure-piles, which is sprayed onto the fields as fertilizer].
http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/walpurgi.htm

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The name derives from St. Walburga
Born in Devonshire, about 710; died at Heidenheim, 25 Feb., 777. She is the patroness of Eichstadt, Oudenarde, Furnes, Antwerp, Gronigen, Weilburg, and Zutphen, and is invoked as special patroness against hydrophobia, and in storms, and also by sailors. She was the daughter of St. Richard, one of the under-kings of the West Saxons, and of Winna, sister of St. Boniface, Apostle of Germany, and had two brothers, St. Willibald and St. Winibald. St. Richard, when starting with his two sons on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, entrusted Walburga, then eleven years old, to the abbess of Wimborne.

Read more about her here:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15526b.htm


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Link in German, with more LINKS to related pages.
http://www.harzlife.de/index.html?event/walpurgis.html

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Der Brocken ist ein sagenumwobener Berg. Auf ihm sollen sich seit alters her die Hexen treffen, um in der Walpurgisnacht mit dem Teufel zu tanzen. Aber erst gegen Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts wurden hier die ersten Hexenfeste abgehalten.


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Things found on the way

The full text in German of Goethe’s famous poem:
http://www.internetschriftsteller.de/autoren-forum-02/schriftsteller/goethe/walpurgisnacht.html


Myths about the Walpurgis Night (German)
Quote:
Die Skepsis gegenüber der Walpurgisnacht-These änderte sich erst ab dem Jahre 1800, als Johann Wolfgang von Goethe den ersten Teil seines „Faust“ veröffentlichte. Goethes Schilderung des Hexensabbat in der Walpurgisnacht basierte auf dem Buch von Praetorius, dessen Eingrenzung der angeblichen Hexentänze auf die Nacht zum 1. Mai durch die Aufnahme in das deutsche Nationalepos nunmehr sakrosankt wurde.

Die Hexen zu dem Brocken ziehn,
Die Stoppel ist gelb, die Saat ist grün.
Dort sammelt sich der große Hauf,
Herr Urian sitzt oben auf.
So geht es über Stein und Stock,
Es farzt die Hexe, es stinkt der Bock.

Goethe
http://members.aol.com/tombeee/hexverf/walpurgis.html

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Brocken Phenomenon, Brocken spectre
ブロッケン現象, burokken genshoo
topic for haiku



A glory is an optical phenomenon produced by light backscattered (a combination of diffraction, reflection and refraction) towards its source by a cloud of uniformly-sized water droplets. A glory has multiple colored rings.

Glories are often seen in association with a Brocken spectre, the apparently enormously magnified shadow of an observer cast, when the Sun is low, upon the upper surfaces of clouds that are below the mountain upon which he stands. The name derives from the Brocken, the tallest peak of the Harz mountain range in Germany. Because the peak is above the cloud level, and the area is frequently misty, the condition of a shadow cast onto a cloud layer is relatively favored.

The appearance of giant shadows that seemed to move by themselves due to the movement of the cloud layer (this movement is another part of the definition of the Brocken Spectre), and which were surrounded by optical glory halos, may have contributed to the reputation the Harz mountains hold as a refuge for witches and evil spirits. In Goethe's Faust, the Brocken is called the Blocksberg and is the site of the Witches' Sabbath on Walpurgis Night.

© More in the WIKIPEDIA !



Basho and go-raikoo 来光, ブロッケン現象


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HAIKU

durch den Wald
ein Weg ohne Ende –
Walpurgisnacht !

through the forest
a walk without end -
Walpurgis Night !

Gabi Greve
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/happyhaiku/message/187

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Walpurgisnacht

Liebesgeschwuere.
Techtelmechtel ausfechtend
fuehlt fuer mich der Tod.

Swearing sveltering love.
Fighting back and forth
Feels like death for me.

(Tr. Gabi Greve)

Patjomkin
http://www.dulzinea.de/forum/haiku-fruehling-winter/t1902-walpurgisnacht-mai.html

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Walpurgisnacht laesst
wild im Licht des Feuerscheins
die Hexen tanzen.

Walpurgis night -
In the light of a bonfire
Witches dancing wildly

(Tr. Gabi Greve)

Medusa
http://www.dulzinea.de/forum/haiku-lichtungen/t3517-walpurgisnacht.html

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Related words

***** Walpurgis Fire, Walpurgis Bonfire
During the whole night, people are dancing around the bonfire, celebrating with the witches !

Walpurgisfeuer.
Um die lodernden Flammen
tanzen Technofreaks.

Walpurgis bonfire.
Around the blazing flames
Techno-freaks dancing.

Udo Wenzel
http://www.haiku-heute.de/Tafel/Tafel-002/tafel-002.html


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WKD : May Day in England

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