The Indian Summer

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The summer is over and the autumn is repeatedly reminding about itself with rains and cold. But suddenly warmth is returning for some days. The weather is calm and clear though there is no heat and trees are dressed in colored leaves. The people calls this time of the year – «“the Indian summer».

The other peoples also have their own names for this season: it is called «the Gipsy summer» in Bulgaria and Serbia, «the aftersummer» (Nazomer) in Holland, «the summer of Saint Martin» in Italy, «the summer of Saint Denny» in France, «the remainder of the summer» in Turkey, «the summer of grandmothers» in Germany, «the Indian summer» in North America, because coloring of trees looks like American Indians’ colored clothes. The Indian summer lasted from the 14th -21st of September in Russia when it was seen the constellation of Pleiades.

One of the meanings of the «the Indian summer» word-combination sounds like this – «the season when old women can still warm themselves in the autumn sun». The harvest time finishes at the end of summer and at the beginning of autumn and there is not much work to do in the fields. Women can rest more and so this season is called «the grandmother’s summer».

The another version says that such word-combinations as «the grandmother’s summer», «the grandmother’s days», «the grandmother’s cold weather» were related to belief in old times that women could return seasons and have effect on the weather.

There exists a legend that once, a very long time ago, at this time of the year severe cold took place and the harvest was not reaped completely. So women gathered and started to ask God to return warmth. Suddenly it really became warmer and the harvest was reaped. Since then the week after the festival of the Protection of the Virgin has been called «the grandmother’s summer» («the Indian summer»).

It was a custom among the different peoples to obey to women in these «grandmother’s days», so assumption appeared that this name is the remainder of the matriarchy. For example, there existed «a women’s» day in some towns of Germany in the 18th century, when men had to fulfill all the wishes and orders of women. In Brussels only on one day of the year – the 19th of January - women were considered to be the plenipotentiary mistresses of the house, and men had to obey them at that time.

There is a feature of the calendar «Indian summer», which is easy to notice - spider’s web flying in the air. In accordance with the legend from the Boykov region, it connects the sky and the land. The spider’s web is spun by a laterigrade spider, which travels down wind in this way. This spider’s web meant the beginning of the women’s winter works for Ukrainian peasants – spinning, sewing, embroidering and weaving. On the festival of Semen (the 14th of September) a splinter was kindled for the first time – piny splinters were put on the iron grate, to which a bag was tied (smoke rose to an attic through it). Women worked using this light. In order not to doze during their work in winter evenings, they made «sitting up the evenings» – a holiday refreshments and «married off a smoke duct»: a splinter was kindled, because they would be together for half a year, up to Annunciation (the 7th of April).

The craftsmen of Kiev and Kharkov also celebrated the beginning of light: on the night of the 1st to the 2nd of September, they celebrated «the wedding of the candle». As early as the end of the XIXth century the tree with a doll on its top was placed and decorated with candles in Kiev, in Podol. The masters of craft shops – clouters, tailors, leather masters, coopers and bakers were amusing themselves near it for the whole night. Such autumn festivals of lights took place at all the Kiev’s market places.

«The Indian summer» is rich in people’s omens and customs. But there is a custom which can be followed even nowadays: it was a custom to make up with each other and to settle all the conflicts. Then peace of mind was heating for all the winter.