SPRING HAS SPRUNG

"Spring has sprung, Fall has fell, Winter's gone, all is
well."

So goes an old country & western song that comes to
mind as i contemplate the season. Spring is the excit-
ing season because of all the changes that go on, day
by day, to make our environs green & alive again. It's
a kind of resurrection from the dead & i thankfully
greet all the old friends as they arise and flower.

No one ever asked me what the 'official' sign of Spring
should be but if they did i'd choose the flowering of
the shad tree, also known as shadbush and service-
berry. Inconspicuous the rest of the year, the shad
tree is the first to flower in the woods in Spring, at
least in my part of the northeast. Its white flowers
and slender trunk give it a grace unlike anything
else in the forest.

But the shad tree has another dimension to it that is
not easily seen, which caused it to stand out for the
Original People (the Indians) prior to the European
Invasion of North America. And it is that the shad
tree flowered at the same time as the shad fish began
to swim up the rivers to spawn. For Indian peoples
(in my area the Mohican and the Munsee Delaware),
who sometimes suffered from starvation at the end
of Winter, the flowering shad tree must have had a
wonderful effect, for it meant that an abundance of
food was at hand once again. Although there is no
record for it, we can imagine how joyfully they cele-
brated.

And that is why i choose the flowering of the shad
tree as the recognized symbol of Spring in the north-
east. Not only is it beautiful but it heralds a new and
freshly-made world, full of rewarding possibilities.
Go out now and look for this special wonder of Nature;
it's everywhere.