Emotional colours of Easter in two hemispheres

In the Northern Hemisphere the seasons map neatly onto the Easter calendar of emotions.  Lent begins when it is still winter; by Easter it is spring.  The final message is resurrection.  The emotion is hope.  Creation is saying “Look!  New life”.

In the Southern hemisphere, lent is late summer and Easter arrives in autumn.  The days are shortening and we are preparing for a time of introspection.  The mood is focussed more on Lent than on Easter; or is it Good Friday?  The emotion is sadness.  Creation is saying “Old life must end so that new life can be begin.”

ANZAC day falls within Lent/Easter.  On this day, community-wide, we remember sacrifices that have been made in war.  Sacrifices demanded by human failure.  It is a sombre time, in tune with the season.  We are back to the mood of Good Friday.

Does ANZAC Day speak of resurrection?  The story told after the first ANZAC day was blunt.  Blood sacrifice baptised a new nation.  It is a theme repeated each year.   We might hear children interviewed on TV saying,  “We must remember the sacrifices they made for us.  So we can be free.”

The geographical season isn’t right for resurrection.  We take the un-knowing message that sacrifice enables new life, and carry it beyond Autumn into Winter, where we can uneasily reflect on what it might mean.

Here are two charts depicting the emotional colours of the year, through the lens of Easter.

Australia

England