On my calendar, today, I found "New Year of the Trees" listed. Not having ever heard of that holiday, I pulled up the internet to see what it was about.
The "New Year of the Trees," or Tu B'Shevat (which has multiple spellings), is a Jewish holiday which is celebrated in late January or early February every year. And it is, truly, the New Year of the Trees.
You see, according to tradition, you are not allowed to harvest from a tree until its third year. To make sure that everyone had a date to go off of, this is the date which is used to count the passing of the year for a tree. It falls in this time of year, because this is when the earliest trees (typically almond trees) start to show off their delicate pink and white blooms in the orchards in Israel.
Apparently, there are a couple different ways to celebrate the day. You could plant a tree (kinda hard in Minnesota in January), or feast on nuts and dried fruits.
Isn't it nice, in the middle of winter, to think that somewhere in the world there's a whole celebration for the rebirth of the trees going on?
I think I may have to make sure this is on my calendar every year.
No comments:
Post a Comment