What is there to like about winter?

Bongi D D M Radipati | Thursday July 4, 2024 10:42

Here in Botswana, although unbearably hot, summer is the ploughing season; autumn, significantly drier than summer, is a season of feasting on the bounty of the soil; and spring, a prelude to summer, is the season for budding plants. Each of the mentioned seasons seems to be experienced in relation to summer and to have some benefit equal to or larger than that of summer. But they have something else in common: they also seem to have an exasperating liminal time between themselves.

As the first half of 2024 ends, the southern hemisphere’s winter, which is Botswana’s too, is inevitable and we can keep the faith that it will arrive, as it always does. But our winter is decidedly different. While summer and winter are polar opposites, they never follow one another. Winter is the only season that we experience right in the middle of the year, as if to compel us to look back at previous seasons fondly or look forward at prospective seasons hopefully. Hardly any season reminds us of the other seasons. Only winter reminds us of the other seasons. In the clear light of our winter’s short days, its uniqueness in the cycle of time is striking. As the only season with frigid days and long nights, winter appears to have an insufficiency of personal benefit to us. In consequence, it is the least desired. Anecdotally, fretting and fussing about seasons seem to increase exponentially during winter. Small wonder that people tend to want to hasten the passing of winter and in turn hasten the arrival of the other seasons.

Yet, everywhere winter is the season when nature recoils and when life tends to be on hold. Everywhere, winter is when our ploughing fields and gardens go fallow and when certain animals hibernate and the rest of them rest more, or sleep more or reproduce more. For humans, winter is the time to acknowledge the cycles and rhythms of the seasons. It is the time to accept the waxing and waning periods of nature. For the young ones, winter is the season to take a chance on their clothes; and to see how strong their body defenses are as they continue with their socializing in the teeth of lower temperatures. For us old people, as the warmer months recede, we may worry how we will survive the impending cold spells and occasional bodily aches and pains. For our tourists, winter is the best time to view our fauna and to participate in big game hunting. For the cerebral, winter portends a time for mental or artistic engagement with oneself. Thus, despite its perceived inconvenience or uselessness, there is something for everyone in winter.

Any woman who is able to be well dressed in winter deserves our applause. Her outerwear of cascading dresses or blouses or long cape styles paired with knee or ankle boots in darker colors, always manage to project an austere majesty and comfort. For a man, clothes for the warmer seasons maketh him because then he is likely to dress conventionally. In the colder seasons, the man maketh the clothes by dressing appropriately and stylistically to convey gravitas and his freedom from the restraint of warm, heavy clothes. Therefore, for the scores of women and men able to “winterize” their clothes; for the women and men whose winter clothes can be more expressive and have insouciant power, achieving these is confirmation that unlike many, they march to the beat of their own drums, no matter the season!

Despite its unfamiliar cold weather and weak, forbidding light - both in the morning and evening - if you have a health bias, winter will prompt you to hit your stride so that you train hard, run long and lift heavy, probably more than you would do in warmer seasons. (Science supports this observation.) It is no surprise that some endurance sports happen in winter, such as cross country, rugby, American football, long distance races, triathlons, skiing, skating etc. At a time of the year when it appears unlikely that one would wish to do any hard, demanding training or competition, winter provides the impetus and confidence that during it, one can be the best version of themselves athletically. Interestingly, classical philosophy regarded physical training as virtuous and a failure to do it as idiotic.

Because hardly anybody expects it, winter is probably the best time to start a hobby or to maintain it. Imagine the novelty of distributing used books or singing opera in public places or volunteering your time to entertain those with disabilities or making customized furniture or doing countless other-regarding pursuits, in winter, when everyone is cold, or complaining about the weather, or sneezing and coughing. Few will initially notice it and fewer will be surprised once you carry it into the next season. In short, there are low expectations for doing anything worthwhile in winter and thus higher levels of happiness once something is accomplished in winter.

Every season has a pastime activity. This is an activity that makes the passing of time enjoyable. Here, the pastime activity for spring could be a variety of ball sports; for summer, it is probably any outdoor activity; and for autumn, it is likely reckoning with performances in one’s favorite sport codes as the competition period winds down. What is our pastime activity for winter? Could it be spending more time with loved ones and friends to enjoy the warmth of their company? Or eating prodigiously or drinking copious amounts of hot beverages to ward the cold off? Or inversely, imbibing more cold alcohol to keep warm? Or as far as possible, doing nothing so as to retain body heat? Please look no further than yourself to answer the question. Have yourselves a pleasant wintry period.

*Radipati is a regular Mmegi contributor