Summertime – cyclic time
It’s December again and summertime is here. Do the years seem to fly by for you?
What does summertime mean to you? Is summer different for you from other times of year? Do you have traditions around summertime?
Some decades ago now I came across the concept of cyclic time. Cyclic time is a way of thinking of time and events as something that repeat itself regularly.
We have the annual cycles the cycles of months and lunar months and weeks. We have particular feast days and holidays.
One way that we can think about living here in this community in this place is in terms of understanding its deep cycles. What are the regularities? The patterns? What gives life that reliable familiar known character?
In December here in the upper Kedron Brook valley it is the warmth the humidity coming the rain the gardens greening up and growing vigorously the soil soft.
The rugs go off the beds and we move to fine thin clothing sheer cottons. Around the home it is easy to walk barefoot.
The heavier carbohydrate meals give way easily to light salads BBQs.
Now the sun is getting up about 4:45am and setting at 6:34pm and there seems to be hours and hours more time in the day to work and get things done and still have time to spare. Do you love the long daylight hours? They drive out darkness and make it easy to be happy.
It is the Christmas customs – the houses lighting up with Christmas lights along the dark streets – have you seen the house on Upper Cedar Creek Rd? the festivals and carols in the parks and churches (The Hills Community Carols with Cr Brian Battersby as Father Christmas The Grove Christmas Party Christmas in Keperra with their Christmas lights and nativity scene) the Christmas Cantata at The Hills Uniting Church Christmas wrapping at Arana Kmart Plaza it is the Christmas hams and decorations and boxes of chocolates and fruit tarts in Coles it is the appearance of twinkling Christmas earrings and broaches it is the Golden Valley Keperra Lions selling Christmas cakes there’s pool stuff in the catalogues to buy for gifts…
Summertime is the long school holidays time. It is end of year ceremonies at our local schools fairwelling Year 7s from primary schools school holiday programs at Arana Library more young people around in the streets and shopping centres in the day churches like The Grove Community Church running school holiday activity programs.
Summertime is holiday time once Christmas is over with people heading for the beach or away to the places they like to go to. Beach campgrounds are full with families who have trecked there for generations.
Summertime is when the regular activities wind up for the year. There is a flurry of final meetings with a social theme – lavish spreads party atmosphere BBQs. Triple YYY has its Christmas gathering for the people who make it possible this year at Mal Boal’s home. There are award nights for the hard workers during the year. Then it all stops for the summer. Programming on TV and radio ticks over to stand-in announcers and repeats of popular rerun programs.
Summertime with a little bit of luck and planning isn’t the time when all the main bills arrive – the car licences the rates and electricity and telephone. Summertime you want to have money free for fun things – presents food and drinks for the season and to share with friends and family the costs of going away.
Summertime for me is always when I do my annual jigsaw puzzle. The light is good with the long days and the hours to spare for patiently fitting the pieces together. Vinnies has a supply of beautiful puzzles to spare.
Soon there will be Woodford Folk Festival and Lifeline Bookfest.
As we go through the year together the more we move into the rituals of cyclic time the closer we come to the people here the place the seasons in harmony in tune in an effortless dance with being.
Song: It’s summertime and the going is easy.