The Eight Seasons Approach
Gives a Better Description of the Cycle of Arctic Nature

Eight Seasons Instead of Four

From the oldest times eight seasons were used by people living in Lapland to describe the cycle of mother nature. Here are the eight periods:

Winter	December to April	Lapland is cold and dark in winter. But winter also brings light. White snow makes the light even brighter.
Spring-winter	April and May	The sun can warm us and skiing is still possible. The snow can be crusty.
Spring	May and June	The sun can warm us and skiing is still possible.
Spring-summer	June	The midnight sun is here. Nature is becoming green and ice disappears on lakes. Salmon fishing starts.
Summer	July-August	The cloudberries get ripe. So do other berries. Nice time for salmon fishing.
summer-autumn	August	Evenings are getting darker and the air is getting a little colder and crisper. The warm nights of August belong to summer. The light is a bit more melancholic.
Autumn	September-October	Nature offer the 'ruska' colours - the autumn colours. Frosty nights are here. Nature is getting ready for winter. Reindeer mate now. Leaves begin to fall and lakes become covered with fog and thin ice. Snow can fall.
Autumn-winter	November	The sun goes below the horizon and the frost can bite. It is the time of the famous blue light of the winter darkness (Kaamos time)

There were good reasons for dividing time into eight seasons. They followed the cycle of nature which is in a constant state of flux. Different tasks had to be done during the ever changing cycle of the eight seasons.

The structures and institutions of human society may change by time. What about our mentalities that are influenced by the nature we live in? Apparently they don't change a lot throughout the generations.

In many ways the eight seasons still influence the things we do, the way we do them - and even our mindset and our feelings. Read also a more detailed description of the eight seasons at Laponia.

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