Seasons Of The Year

Mother Earth has four major seasons every year. These four seasons show us how great mother nature is. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter follow one another regularly and give people a wonderful experience throughout each year. Each season has its own light, temperature and weather patterns. As the weather changes, plants change too and animals change their behavior to suit the weather. Unfortunately, we Sri Lankans don’t get a chance to witness the beauty of these seasons because we are living in a country that is close to the equator.

But we can see people in western countries and those who are living near the Poles experiencing the impact of each season. Spring and Autumn are very attractive seasons while  Summer and Winter may give some hard times. When it comes to Mother Nature my most favourite topic to talk about is these seasons. Even though I can’t experience every one of them, I’m enjoying seasonal changes of the year through imagination. For instance, we are now in September which for me, is Autumn.

So, I would like to share my thoughts about four major seasons with you, especially the beautiful side and unpleasant side of each season.

 Spring

Although a year usually starts with the Winter, the conventional belief is that the Spring is the first season of the year. It generally begins in the middle of March to the countries in the northern hemisphere and in September to the countries in the southern hemisphere. Spring is arguably the most attractive season of the year and even we, Sri Lankans, can witness it. The birds start to sing, especially the Koel, and trees start to grow again and sprout fresh, new and colourful leaves. Some trees such as Cherry, Erabadu, Tulips and Hawthorn, (we know it as “The May tree”) produce beautiful flowers. As the environmental condition is extremely good, the Spring is one of the best seasons to go on trips to places like the country side, jungles and beaches. People who love to go on forest camping can enjoy watching animals and birds safely, in this season. The Spring then comes to an end, with the beginning of the hot Summer.

Summer

The Summer is the warmest season of the year. It usually exists from June to August in the northern hemisphere and from December to February in the southern hemisphere. Many people including myself don’t like summer for its extreme rise of temperature. Since we’re living in a country located near the equator, we can experience the hot weather more than any other country during the summer. And being an island, the sea wind controls the temperature in our country as well. In countries like USA, Mexico, Brazil and Australia, we can see there are a lot of forest fires during the hot summer. The best example was 2020 forest fires in Australia and it was estimated more than 50 million animals died from it. However, the villainous Summer also helps many plants to grow up and most of fruits and vegetables too. Most people in western countries go on vacation during the season, especially to the coastal sides and lakes. The summer then ends with the arrival of the Fall.

Autumn

The Autumn also known as the Fall, is my second most favourite season of the year. It begins with the end of hot Summer. The Fall arrives to northern hemisphere in September and ends in November.  It may arrive to southern hemisphere in March and end in May. The Fall is a very beautiful season, the leaves of many trees turn red, orange, yellow or brown before falling off. In this season the temperature will start to go down, the nights are longer than day and the cozy winds let us know that the Winter is coming. However here in Sri Lanka we can’t experience the beauty of the Autumn but countries like Norway, Sweden, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are having the best experiences of this wonderful season. Autumn is  season for a lot of fun activities. In western countries we can see they are celebrating small festivals like Halloween and All Saints day. People are getting ready for the upcoming winter season, even the animals are starting their preparation for upcoming cold months. The plants will also stop their food production, and everything in nature slowly starts to fall asleep.

Winter

Winter is my personal favourite season of the year even though I can’t experience it from where I’m living. Winter arrives to the countries in the northern hemisphere in December and ends in March. It arrives to the countries in southern hemisphere in June and ends in the middle of August. Winter is the coldest season of the year. It takes place when the part of Earth in that hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun, so the sun light won’t hit each pole directly. Many trees and smaller plants are bare and lie dormant, which means they aren’t active during this season. Most of the animals like bears, squirrels, martens, weasels, and other types of mammals will go to a deep sleep which is called ‘Hibernation’. They do this to save their energy until the Spring begins, so it will be easier to find food. However, the birds like Robins and Cardinals in western countries are fully active even during the cold weather. They never leave their habitat. And during the Winter, nights are much longer than the day.

As a Catholic Christian, another important reason to talk about Winter is that it brings the strong Christmas feeling. Even here in Sri Lanka where there is no snow falling, we can see people getting ready for Christmas and the New year. The people who live in snow falling countries will experience the best Christmas feeling in my opinion as we can see they are making beautiful Christmas trees and snowmen. In contrast sometimes, the Winter may get extremely dangerous. The snowstorms and high wind may damage properties and even cause to loss of lives.

Finally, the Winter will end with the arrival of the Spring in mid of the March, starting the seasonal cycle once again in all its glory and sending waves of reverberating change across the hemispheres.

– Rtr Yohan Soyza

 References

http://media.istockphoto.com/photos/winter-spring-summer-autumn-four-seasons-picture-id478819237?k=6&m=478819237&s=612×612&w=0&h=AJk34k98Ysoc6pxiEu5ykWkTFNXyexZWNU3m_ZD05RM=

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/01/08/12/50/seasons-of-the-year-1127760_960_720.jpg

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/04/30/13/47/wallpaper-3362712_960_720.jpg)

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/08/02/16/22/beach-6517214_960_720.jpg)

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/11/08/16/57/road-5724397_960_720.jpg

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/12/18/14/51/midnight-snow-1915907_960_720.jpg)