summer dormancy - literary reference

Sean,

I'm not a member of this list, but I occasionally read over Anni 
Jensen's shoulder, and noticed your question. I don't know if this 
follows in your sort of literary references, but I have done a fair 
amount of research on agriculture and ecology in the Bible, and have 
to say that the evidence there does not suggest a slowdown in human 
activity in the summer. For most peasant mediterranean agriculture, 
as far as I can read, the most hectic time of the year is late 
spring/early summer with the grain harvests, flax, lentils, etc. The 
second most hectic time is the early fall, with grape and olive 
harvests, and getting ready to plant the grains for the next season. 
For teaching purposes, I once took a number of biblical quotes which 
referred to agricultural activities (though they were often not about 
agricultural events themselves) and had students arrange them on an 
annual calendar according to the seasons when particular activities 
were likely to take place. Without any intention on my part (in fact, 
I simply tried to get as many quotes as I could) the overwhelming 
number were in May, June, July. Winter is a time of relative 
inactivity, given that shepherds are more likely to keep the flocks 
close to home (when shepherds were in their fields watching their 
flocks by night, it was probably the summer), the big planting is 
done, and no major harvests are taking place. Springtime was known as 
the time to go out to battle, and travel for festivals typically took 
place at the first barley harvest, the wheat harvest, or the grape 
harvest. That's partly because it's easier to travel when it's not 
raining. Now it may well have been that the well-to-do saw summer as 
a time of relaxation, but certainly not the peasant 90 percent. And 
since the elite were the key warriors, I imagine that only in times 
of peace could summer have meant a less hectic season. Well, maybe 
for the women in wealthy families? I'm extrapolating here . . .

Now one place you might look for summer relaxation would be in 
cultures which relied not on agriculture but on gathering, fishing, 
and hunting in Mediterranean climates, like native California. 
Without the concentrated labor of agriculture, or the dietary 
emphasis on grains, time may have been allocated in very different 
ways. I'd start with Malcolm Margolin's The Ohlone Way for 
readability, but there are other interesting books and articles as 
well. They might lead you to some traditional songs or stories.

Carol Manahan

Hi folks -

I am working on an article about summer dormancy in mediterranean 
climates.  I would be very interested to hear from any of you on this 
topic.  Working from the approach that our dormancy is in summer 
rather than winter seems to help people really get a grip on the 
differences between this and other (cold winter, i.e. winter dormant) 
climates.

I'm trying to research literary references relating to this summer 
dormancy, especially in poetry (which seem particularly hard!).  I 
imagine some of these might actually be in a foreign language 
(French, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese) which would be fine - I 
could translate for my purposes.

The kind of stuff I am looking for relates to how the natural world 
slows down and goes to 'sleep' to get through the rigors of the warm 
and dry summer period.  How life also slows and changes, is perhaps 
more relaxing and less hectic, either because the natural world has 
slowed or because our lives have also slowed because of the same 
rigors.  As we here in the northern hemisphere start to slip into 
this season of rest, as as those in the southern hemisphere have left 
is recently, perhaps we can all reflect on this topic breifly.

I would also be interested in artistic representations (famous 
paintings or drawings) depicting the same.

I anyone wishes me to explain this more fully, please let me know.
Thanks,
Seán O.

h o r t u l u s   a p t u s     -    'a garden suited to its purpose'
Seán A. O'Hara            fax (707) 667-1173         sean@support.net
710 Jean Street, Oakland, CA 94610-1459, U.S.A.
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