Week 12: “Spring Equinox”

March 18 to March 24 is the twelfth week of 2024.  This week, we enter the Solar Term of Spring Equinox (Mar 20- Apr 3), and have the micro-seasons of “Caterpillars Become Butterflies” (Mar 16 – Mar 19) and “Sparrows Start to Nest”(Mar 20 – Mar 24).

Basho, Issa, Buson, Sodo, Reichhold, and Kerouac wrote this week’s poems.  

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The 24 Solar Terms 

The 24 solar terms were created by farmers in ancient China  (206 BCE and 24 CE) to help guide their agricultural activities. Each solar term is 15 days long and is based on the climate around the city Xi’an, which was the capital of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE). ⁽¹⁾

Spring Equinox

Spring Equinox is the fourth Solar Term of the year and the fourth Solar Term of Spring. Chunfen(春分) is the Chinese name for this season. Chunfen(春分) means “the daytime and nighttime are almost the same.”⁽²⁾ Chunfen(春分) marks the midpoint between Beginning of Spring and Beginning of Summer.

3 Hou

Spring Equinox is divided into three, five-day segments known as hou.  Hou, which are very similar to the 72 seasons of Japan, are explained through the following ancient Chinese saying:  “Swallows fly back to the North in the first hou; thunder cracks the sky in the second hou; lightning occurs frequently in the third hou.”⁽³⁾

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The 72 Seasons

The 72-season calendar was established in 1685 by Japanese astronomer Shibukawa Shunkai.  Each season lasts for about 5 days and offers “a poetic journey through the Japanese year in which the land awakens and blooms with life and activity before returning to slumber.”⁽⁴⁾

This week we have the micro-seasons of “Caterpillars Become Butterflies” (Mar 16 – Mar 19) and “Sparrows Start to Nest”(Mar 20 – Mar 24).  

The Life Cycle of the Butterfly

The micro-season “Caterpillars Become Butterflies”, marks the final stage of the four main stages of a butterfly’s life. These stages are the Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis, and Butterfly. 

The Egg Stage:

The first stage of a butterfly’s life is the egg stage. These eggs may be laid in any season but winter. The timing of egg laying will depend on the species of butterfly.  A butterfly lays its eggs on plants so that when the caterpillar hatches it will have easy access to food.  

The Caterpillar Stage:

The second stage in a butterfly’s life is known as the larva stage, which we commonly call the caterpillar stage.  The caterpillar’s main job is to eat and grow.  Some caterpillars can “grow 100 times their size during this stage.”⁽⁶⁾ A monarch butterfly caterpillar,for example, is just a bit bigger than a pinhead after hatching.  Yet it will grow to over two inches long before moving into the chrysalis stage.

The Chrysalis Stage:

The chrysalis stage is also known as the pupa stage.  At this stage. the caterpillar has stopped eating and is preparing for its final transition to a butterfly. The caterpillar makes this final transition within a hard exoskeleton (the chrysalis) that protects it during its metamorphosis.

Butterflies and moths go through what is called a complete metamorphosis.  Their transition is called a complete metamorphosis because the caterpillar, or larva, is very different from the adult butterfly and eats different food.

Grasshoppers, crickets, and dragonflies undergo incomplete metamorphosis. Their change is called “incomplete” because their larva stage looks similar to their adult stage. The main difference is that the adults have wings, and the larvae don’t.

Depending on the butterfly species, the chrysalis stage can last anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of years.

The Butterfly Stage

The Butterfly stage is also known as the adult stage or the reproductive stage.  At this point, the job of the butterfly is to mate and then find places to lay eggs.  Many butterflies rely on flower nectar to survive, while others don’t eat anything during this stage. 

Total Lifespan

The lifespan of butterflies ranges greatly.  The Small Blues and Coppers butterflies only live for a few days.  A Black Swallowtail and an Eastern Swallowtail may live for 2 or 3 weeks, and a Peacock butterfly and a Tortoiseshell can live for 11 or 12 months.  In general, the larger the butterfly, the longer they live.⁽⁷⁾

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Astronomical Season

March 24, the last day of week twelve, is 5 days past the spring equinox (March 19, 2024).  

The Spring Equinox

An equinox is when the Sun crosses over the celestial equator.  The celestial equator is an imaginary line that extends above the Earth’s equator line into space. During the equinox, there is roughly the same amount of daylight as night.  Equinox “comes from the Latin words for “equal night”—aequus (equal) and nox (night).”⁽⁸⁾

The Spring Equinox, or Vernal Equinox, marks the start of Astronomical Spring.  This is different from Meteorological Spring, which began on March 01 in the Northern Hemisphere. If you are living in the Southern Hemisphere you will be entering Autumn. 

The exact time of the March Equinox is March 19 at 11:06 P.M. EDT.  

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Haiku and Kigo 

The kigo, or season word, is one of the key parts of the haiku.  The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society provides us with the following explanation for why we use kigo in haiku. 

“A kigo is a poetic device used in haiku to denote a season; it’s a powerful word or phrase that can conjure up many allusions, historical references, spiritual meanings, and/or cultural traditions. Its use in haiku, a poem of few words, is especially effective because of this power to expand its meaning beyond the literal and to create a larger aura of seasonal mood, historical/ literary context, and/or cultural implications.”⁽⁹⁾

Visit The Haiku Foundation’s “New To Haiku: What is a Kigo?” for more information

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This Week’s Kigo

In The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words selected by Kenkichi Yamamoto, “spring equinox”, “spring day”, “spring dawn” and “spring evening” are relevant kigo.  “Swallows” and “butterflies” are also potential Animal-Spring kigo.

 In Jane Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku, “vernal equinox”, “light”, and “passing of day” are potential kigo. 

 Now with all this in mind, let’s read some haiku. 

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Basho

ah spring spring
how great is spring! 
and so on 
(translated by Jane Reichhold)

Now spring has arrived 
on a mountain with no name 
in early morning haze 
(translated by Sam Hamill)

Issa

in my province
nothing blooming yet...
spring equinox
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

a confusing mix
of rain and snow...
spring equinox
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

in my village
snow falls pit-a-pat...
spring equinox
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Yamaguchi Sodo

In my hut this spring
There is nothing–
There is everything!
(translated by RH Blyth)

Buson

Announcing spring’s
arrival — drooping
wisteria blossoms
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Warblers
sparrows? See —
it must be spring
(translated by Allan Persinger)

Reichhold

first day of spring
on the calendar
by the snowy window

Kerouac

The carpenter of spring
  The Zen
of hammer and nail

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Haiku invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu referencing the arrival of the spring. 

Share your haiku in the comments below, or post on your page and link back. I can’t wait to read what you write! 

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Let’s Spread the Joy of Haiku!

Buy a haiku book for the Woodbury Community Library (Woodbury, VT) and help them spread the joy of haiku! Follow this link to see the wish list and how you can help.

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About the Haiku

Basho’s haiku were retrieved from “Matsuo Bashō’s haiku poems in romanized Japanese with English translations” Editor: Gábor Terebess.  Issa’s haiku were retrieved from David G. Lanoue’s Haiku Guy. Buson’s haiku was retrieved from Foxfire: the Selected Poems of Yosa Buson, a Translation by Allan Persinger. Jane Reichhold’s haiku were retrieved from the Dictionary of Haiku. Kerouac’s haiku was retrieved from Kerouac’s Book of Haikus.

1. “The 24 Solar Terms”; China Educational Tours
2. “6 Solar Terms of Spring”; China Educational Tours
3. “24 Solar Terms: Things you may not know about the Spring Equinox”; ChinaDaily
4. 72 Seasons App
5. “Japan’s 72 Microseasons”; Nippon.com
6. “Butterfly Lifecycle”; The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
7. “How Long Do Butterflies Live”; Butterflyindentification.com
8. “First Day of Spring 2024: The Spring Equinox”. The Almanac