Spring People

Spring people are endowed with various talents and a sharp mind. They are able to reason, analyse, create admirable ideas, and carry others along with them, but realising all their plans is hindered by excessive indecisiveness and a lack of confidence in themselves and their abilities. Spring people have leadership qualities, but they sometimes fail to realise them due to their insecurity, remaining only in the role of adviser and supporter.

Spring people are egocentric, concentrating all joys and sorrows, successes and misfortunes solely upon themselves. At times they are naive as children, capable of wonder, of displaying indignation or confusion, great enthusiasm or deep disappointment. A spring person's mood must be guessed, otherwise one may unwittingly get hurt. That is why spring people are mostly admired but not loved. Relationships are complicated by sudden mood swings and whims.

Spring people's energy flows through all their work; they are tireless doers. The only misfortune is that one and the same task bores them fairly quickly and they move on, seeking new challenges, new impressions and possibilities. Among them are many talented mathematicians and orators.

They know how to appreciate luxurious things and fine clothing, since they have often started from nothing, in hardship, and made the difficult journey to wealth. Spring people approach price with a certain awe that often confuses (because spring people tend to be a little careful with money), but the striving for beauty makes them open their wallet.

"Spring people sense what others dispute, not yet able to notice it, but which is already hovering in the air. Spring people live in the future; they consider only the moment as the present, but already call the spoken word the past, from which they immediately take their leave. Along with the past they also cast aside friends who were recently dear to them, with such ease that from the outside it might be perceived as heartlessness. But it is not. Who is to blame if those others cannot keep pace into the future? Few have the courage to regard the ground underfoot merely as a stepping stone from which to step into the unknown - a tomorrow that is neither promised nor insured." /quote from Māra Svīre's "SOTTO VOCE"/

This was the last season (or in essence the first season of the year) whose influence on a person's character I tried to capture in all these articles. In my view, however precise or imprecise this characterisation may be, the influence of sunlight on a person - both at the moment of birth and throughout life - is undeniable. Involuntarily I recall Rainis - "the first memory was the sun." The spring person will always feel the lack of sun; there will never be enough of it. He will crave sunlight and warm caresses, and will journey to the ends of the earth following the round solar disc. The summer person is spoiled by the sun; he has never lacked it - on the contrary, he will tend to avoid it, hiding in refreshing shade. The autumn person savours every ray of sunshine, for he already feels the breath of cold at his back. He still looks with joy at sun-saturated, ripened, and harvested grain fields and feels safe, protected, and provided for when lean times come. The winter person does not know the true generosity of the sun at all; he pays it no particular attention, though he gazes with wonder at white snowy fields when the sun's rays illuminate them and they glitter as if strewn with silver gemstones.